MONTREAL — With the Olympic Games over and less than a year to go before the “Jewish Olympics” – the World Maccabiah Games in Israel – how are things shaping up?

Maccabi Canada president Allen Gerskup, left,  is seen with national athletic committee chair Leon Elfassy.

The 18th or “Chai” edition next July will showcase Canada’s biggest and best team ever, says Leon Elfassy, who heads Maccabi Canada’s national athletic committee (NAC), which gets final say as to who goes and who doesn’t,

“By far, it will be the biggest team we ever sent, and, I think, the highest quality,” he said.

A record 400 Canadian Jewish athletes (the total delegation will be about 450) are expected to compete with more than 10,000 Jewish athletes from some 60 countries.

Hockey legend Jean Beliveau has accepted the role of honorary chef de mission for the third time, even though hockey is not in the lineup next year.

Already, Elfassy boasted, about 550 athletes have registered on the organization’s website to try out for the Games.

Compare that, he said, to the United States, which has 14 times Canada’s Jewish population but whose Maccabi contingent will be only twice as large as Canada’s.

This is a reflection of the amount of the sweat and sinew being  put in by the athletes and the organization in general as the months count down, he said.

This will be the best team ever, Elfassy said, because the organization is recruiting top-ranked coaches to go along with its high-performance Jewish athletes.

Think Concordia University’s John Dore in basketball, or Victor Zilberman in wrestling, or Brenda Willis, who is considered one of the best in volleyball and will be coaching the men’s team. Also, think Chaim Edelstein for tennis, or Canadian-born Glen Grunwald of the NBA’s New York Knicks.

In addition, Elfassy said, the organization has been recruiting a new generation of coaches to bring fresh blood and vitality into the organization. They include David Bloom for boys basketball, Ashley Kochman in women’s basketball, Alicia Crelinsten in girls’ soccer, and Jason Starr in boys’ baseball.

As for the athletes, Olympic wrestlers David Zilberman and Ari Taub are due to be at Ramat Gan Stadium for the opening ceremonies, and Elfassy said medal hopes also look good in men’s and women’s open volleyball, men’s basketball, rhythmic gymnastics, water polo, master’s soccer, master’s triathlon, and softball in all categories.

At the last Games in 2005, Canada garnered 47 medals.

In costs $7,500 to bring each athlete to Israel, but Elfassy made the point over and over again that not one athlete with a deserving level of athletic ability will be left behind, even though athletes are encouraged to fundraise on their own behalf.

Elfassy gives an enormous amount of credit to Maccabi Canada president Allen Gerskup of Toronto and to the rest of the NAC committee – whose members are in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver – for the new sense of purpose and proaction being experienced within the organization.

Since Gerskup took over the helm, Elfassy said, Maccabi Canada has been an important presence at every international Maccabi event, including the Pan-Am Maccabi Games, the Maccabi European Games and Australia’s first international Maccabi competition.

It was also a Canadian initiative, he said, to bring cycling as a sport to the Maccabiah Games next year. Canada is one of 11 countries that will compete.

And despite the chronic problem of national fundraising, a task being overseen by Gary Ulrich, who returned after a number of years away from the organization, things are looking up, with important fundraisers planned for Toronto and other cities.

Part of the problem, Elfassy said, has been the persistent perception that giving money to Maccabi Canada was giving money “to sports.”

In reality, he stressed, there is little difference between the overall raison d’être of Maccabi Canada and that of Birthright Israel, the free trip offered to young, first-time visitors to Israel.

“The only difference is the vehicle – sports,” Elfassy said. As with Birthright, “the main goal is to bring Jews together, to explore our roots and see the State of Israel; for Jews from all over the world to mingle and make friends.

“It’s to do something priceless, but to do it with sports.”

To register for tryouts for the Canadian team, visit Maccabi Canada’s website, www.maccabicanada.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 416-398-0515.