24 | FEBRUARY 8 • 2024 J
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W

hen Meredith 
Rubenfire walked 
into Little Caesars 
Arena in Detroit in the 
summer of 2019 to watch 
the opening ceremony of the 
JCC Maccabi Games, she had 
no idea it would be a life-
changing night. 
 Her family was hosting 
two hockey players from 
Maryland, so she wanted 
to support her athletes and 
celebrate the start of the 
Games. As Meredith, then 22, 
was watching the powerful and 
exciting ceremony, she spotted 
someone ushering athletes 
along, someone she hadn’t 
seen since her BBYO days: 
Brett Rubenfire, the assistant 
director for the Games. 
 Meredith remarked to her 
friend Karen Kaplan standing 
nearby, “I always thought 
Brett Rubenfire was husband 
material!” 
Brett was, according to 
Meredith, “a really big deal” 
in BBYO, being president of 

the region. “I was learning the 
ropes of BBYO while Brett was 
a big presence in the room, so 
we didn’t have a lot of contact,” 
explains Meredith, now 26.
But with Meredith’s 
“husband material” message 
planted in her mind, her friend 
was determined to play Cupid. 
Over the course of the Games, 
Kaplan did her best to ensure 
that at any evening events, the 
two would be in proximity. 
“I did notice that Meredith 
seemed to be around a lot and 
thought she seemed nice and 
perhaps we could be friends,” 
said Brett, 28. 
Then the Michigan weather 
intervened, helping the love 
match along.
Meredith heard there was 
a rainstorm in the forecast, 
which would impact tennis. 
As she was then working 
at The Sports Club of West 
Bloomfield, she had the 
perfect solution. “I tracked 
down Brett’s phone number 
from a friend and I texted 

him offering him 13 tennis 
courts for the next day — even 
before I’d asked my boss!” says 
Meredith. 
For Brett, this was 
the perfect answer and, 
fortunately, Meredith’s 
manager agreed. “Maccabi 
doesn’t have funding for back-
up venues for rain days, so 
this was a great solution. I 
told Meredith to invoice me 
for the courts, but she then 
went further and said it would 
be free,” Brett said. “I told 
her after the Games I would l 
take her out for a drink to say 
thank you.”
Three months after that 
first date the couple were in 
a serious relationship and, 
992 days after the opening 
ceremony, Brett took Meredith 
back to Little Caesars Arena 
for a surprise proposal in a sea 
of balloons. Their wedding 
was on Sept. 3, 2023, at the 
Henry Ford Museum. 
This summer’s 2024 JCC 
Maccabi Games, being held 
from July 28-Aug. 2 and 
organized by The J in West 
Bloomfield, will be a joint 
experience for the couple. 
Meredith, who works at the 
indoor learning-based play 
space Fascination Factory in 
Birmingham, is co-chair of the 
volunteer committee, while 
Brett, a senior sales executive 
at Thomson Reuters, is one of 
four athletic chairs. 
You could say that JCC 
Maccabi runs in their blood. 
Meredith’s family was a 
frequent host family while 
Brett’s father, Mark Rubenfire, 
who is president emeritus of 
The J, was head of operations 
for the Games in 2014 and 
his mother, Shelly, was head 
of housing in 2009, 2014 and 
2019. 
It’s the seventh time the 

A Maccabi Love Story

One couple finds forever-love at the Games.

ALISON SCHWARTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

OUR COMMUNITY

Brett and 
Meredith 
Rubenfire at 
their wedding.

