Welcome to the Jerusalem Scrabble Club
COME PLAY WITH US – VISITORS ALWAYS WELCOME!
*** NEW PLAYERS: CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ***
Director: Elana Simons, 054 220 6238, elanalibby@gmail.com
THIS WEEK AT THE CLUB
Season 86, Week 01 of 25 –September 22, 2026
Our tradition holds that three things, teshuva, tefila, and tzedaka – repentance, prayer and charity – determine the nature of our year ahead. Could they apply to Scrabble and our hoped-for success in the new season’s rankings? We might, for instance, repent our laziness in mastering those sometimes-elusive three-letter words, vowing that we will make an effort to include even the fours. Prayer is a tricky one since we know it has no effect whatever on the Tile Fairy, who bestows or withholds her favors at random. (If anything, superstition figures more prominently. For example, our late member Hazel Haberer, a terrific Scrabble player, when she won all three games would always make sure to wear the same dress to the club the following week.) Scrabble charity could include praising a great word played by an opponent, and giving due credit to the victor by saying “Well done!”, avoiding any implication that the win came about only because “You had all the S’s, both blanks, power tiles” or whatever, downplaying any skill on the opponent’s part. At the same time, it’s important to show charity to oneself by not obsessing over stupid mistakes, which even the best of us are prone to make.
At the end of the season DavidS, as expected, emerged top of Division A and Wendy, Peta, Dahlia and Susan are currently deep into the playoffs to see which one of them gets the honor and privilege of facing David in the best of five games for the Club Championship. Judy came first in Division B.
There will be no club session during Hol Ha-Mo’ed, and the session of October 6 is slightly iffy as to date owing to an event in the school. But the club will meet that week, and if an alternative day is necessary it will probably be Wednesday or Thursday. Keep an eye on the club website Announcements.
Jonathan was pleased with his bingo of VENISON. He got away with the phony SIOUX on a triple, but stumbled over his opponent’s JINNY, which isn’t good.
DavidS: “I was observing one of the playoff games, Wendy vs Dahlia. Wendy played off one tile and left FGHINS. She was literally fishing for FISHING! And she got her wish. The only place to play it was ending with an S already on the board – for a double-double, no less, getting 110 points! Of course, Dahlia had to challenge, and -INGS words are tricky: Some are good, most are not (though more are good in the Collins dictionary). But I knew it was good because, aside from being a verb, FISHING is also a noun, a sport like boating or boxing.”
Hilites will be on vacation for the next three weeks. Chag sameah to everyone!
If you missed the opportunity to communicate your hilite in person at the club you can email it to judymo@netvision.net.il or WhatsApp it (054-5552355) up until noon the following day. If you wish to mark any occasion by bringing refreshments to the club, please check with Susan up to a week in advance.
WWW: May, Judy, Bob, Pauline
WOW: ACADEMIA (Dahlia), NOMINALS (ElanaS), TONUSES (DavidS)
PHOW:DEEDERS (Yaakov)
High Win, High Loss, High Triple:
A: 541 (Dahlia), 427 (Elana), 1282 (Wendy)
B1: 526 (May), 357 (Richard), 1320 (May)
Scores over 500: 541 (Dahlia), 526 (May), 503 (Wendy)
100-pt play: FISHINGS, 110 (Wendy)
Attendance: 26