Written by Brian Barth
16 Rothschild Boulevard.
Something as simple as an address can leave a legacy far beyond its block, its neighborhood, and even its country.
This patch of land, first known as Plot 43, was drawn by lottery in 1909 by a man named Meir Dizengoff. The place the future Israeli was settling – known as Ahuzat Bayit – would be named Tel Aviv. Thirteen years later, Dizengoff became the city’s first mayor.
Reuben Dizenoff is a 32-year-old triathlete who will be competing in the 2025 Maccabiah in Israel this summer in the Open Maccabi Man competition. He is beyond excited to embark on his second visit to the Jewish homeland where his great-great uncle Meir resided five generations prior.
The New York City native played numerous sports growing up but he initially took a liking to baseball. In high school, he was a co-captain of his Horace Mann squad alongside current Minnesota Twins outfielder – and fellow Jew – Harrison Bader.
But it was in sixth grade when he first fell in love with water sports. “The first one I was introduced to was water polo,” Dizengoff said. He played in middle and high school, at Hamilton College, and later on the international stage.
Dizengoff competed in the 2015 European Maccabi Games in Berlin, Germany, on the Open Men’s Water Polo squad. Thinking back to the competition 10 years ago, Dizengoff noted, “first and foremost, was the team and the camaraderie and the friendships that were developed on that team.”
Later that same year, he swam at the 13th Pan American Maccabi Games in Santiago, Chile. The Games stretched from late December into January 2016 and created an enormous celebration.
“We had known our counterparts from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and all the other countries, and I vividly remember everybody dancing and celebrating the New Year,” he said. “The camaraderie amongst all the different athletes, men and women, just enjoying and celebrating our hard work [and] our collective and shared effort and affinity.”
It was also back at Hamilton College that Dizengoff developed an affinity for another athletic passion – cycling. By the end of his freshman year, the multi-sport athlete started to regularly jump on his bike. “I was playing water polo in the fall. I was swimming in the winter and I was looking for stuff to do in the spring.” That’s when a few of his swimming teammates, who were already addicted to the sport, introduced it to him.
The running component of the triathlon came easy to Dizengoff, who noted that, “it’s one of the most natural sports because it’s just an extension of our everyday movement.” His love of triathlons runs so deep that the lawyer cannot even count how many he’s raced. His most recent endurance test came in April, when Dizengoff competed in St. Anthony’s Triathlon, an Olympic-length event in St. Petersburg, FL.
“I think the reason why I like the sport so much is that racing is the cherry on top – it’s sort of the joy and the happiness, it’s the result of all of the hard work of training,” Dizengoff said. “Training for all three is not easy. It requires a tremendous amount of consistency, discipline, focus, and time management.”
Despite having crossed the finish line in dozens of triathlons, Dizengoff admits to still getting “race day nerves and race day jitters.” Yet, he continues to press on because he embraces the performance, the competition and the internal motivation.
“You race against the clock, and whoever finishes the fastest wins,” he added. “But it is a race against yourself, and you are only going to do as well as all of the hard work that you put in, and all of the training that you do, and all of the time and effort and attention that you pay to your training, your rest, your recovery, your nutrition, all of the other things that are necessary in order to perform well and execute on race day. So I love the sport so much because you truly get as much out of it as you put into it. I love that.”
Dizengoff also loves that the next plot of land that he must swim, bike, and run through will come in Israel next month – and it will take place only a hop, skip, and jump from the place his great-great uncle staked claim to more than 115 years ago.
Brian Barth is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Maccabi Media Program since the inaugural team at the 2022 Maccabiah. You can follow him on X @BrianWBarth and Instagram @brianw.barth.