It’s not easy for the priests and student priests at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Milwaukee to manage the Israeli pronunciation of “Liran,” the first name of the new director of the seminary’s Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies.
But Liran Gerassi, an Israeli social entrepreneur living in Milwaukee for a few years, gives them an opportunity to practice saying his name every time he enters their classroom to teach about Israel, Judaism, and Jewish history.
He also introduces a Hebrew word of the week, sometimes words they already know such as “hallelujah” or “amen” but didn’t realize were Hebrew.
“The goal of the Lux Center is to promote Jewish-Catholic dialogue and educate the future priests on their Jewish roots, so they will pass on the reconciliation message to the communities they will serve in the future,” Gerassi says.
“I am the first-ever Israeli director of the center and first-ever Israeli employee of the Sacred Heart seminary.”
From The Equalizer to the Lux Center
This was not an obvious career direction for Gerassi.
He started The Equalizer in 2009 as a volunteer-run soccer team for Jerusalem boys at risk, mainly Ethiopian immigrants.
When Gerassi left the organization 14 years later, it consisted of 500 teams across Israel. Not just soccer but also basketball and swimming – and not just for Jewish boys but for boys and girls from Arab, Jewish, and Bedouin communities, including teams for kids with autism.
The Equalizer aims to create social, geographical, and gender equality through programs combining team sports with academic assistance, values-based activities, and empowerment content. Under Gerassi’s leadership, it expanded beyond Israel to developing countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America in partnership with local governments, NGOs, and Israeli embassies.
“The Equalizer is still going strong. I left because my wife, Noa, was appointed as the Jewish Agency for Israel’s emissary [shlicha] to the Jewish community of Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for three years,” Gerassi explains.
Serving this very diverse community of around 25,000 Jews through the Jewish Federation, her mission is primarily “to serve as a human connection between the Jews living here and Israeli culture and Israelis,” she says.
Just six weeks after their move, the events of Oct. 7 put a different spin on everything.
Liran Gerassi waited a little while until the couple’s daughters, now aged nine and six, were adequately adjusted to a new country, new language, and new school, and then flew to Israel twice for reserve duty as an officer in Gaza.
The Milwaukee Jewish community, he notes, “were really there for Noa to help with everything during those tough times I was away.”
The war, and the unexpectedly vicious backlash it created against Jews in the Diaspora, got Gerassi thinking about how he could use his organizational experience to bring about a positive change.
“In Israel, we grow up thinking ‘antisemitism’ is a term from history books. We have fights against enemies that border us, but it’s not antisemitism. Obviously, in the past year I comprehended that antisemitism still exists in the Diaspora,” he says.
“When I was running a nonprofit and raising funds from Jewish communities and donors in the Diaspora, there was a feeling that they always help us. And they helped us after Oct. 7 also, raising money and coming to volunteer. But now communities abroad need our help. I wanted to do something related to lowering the level of hatred and increasing the sense of safety,” he explains.
Speaking with some friends over a beer, he learned that the Lux Center was seeking a new executive director following two years of inactivity. Gerassi applied with low expectations, knowing that they were looking for an experienced theologian or rabbi.
It was a long process. His initial interview was held after he returned the first time from Gaza; the second was after he’d served another month there. Ultimately, Gerassi’s successful experience developing The Equalizer convinced the board that he was the right candidate to lead and develop the Lux Center.
The job description did not include teaching, but already on his first day one of the priests asked Gerassi to speak to his class about the history of the Land of Israel. Since then, Gerassi has been teaching regularly at the seminary.
“I was hesitant because I had never taught Judaism, but I realized I’m not teaching it to rabbis; I’m teaching it to priests and future priests. I have 39 years of Jewish experience more than they do,” he says.
AS THE only Jew on campus, Gerassi is a novelty, and even more so because he is Sephardi – Iraqi on one side and Turkish on the other. “This is something they never saw before,” he says.
The seminarians were awe-struck to hear that he was born in the holy city of Jerusalem. “We talked about the Jewish calendar, and I told them I was born on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, but I celebrate two birthdays – the Hebrew one and the Gregorian one.”
His main duties as executive director of the Lux Center are focused outside the classroom.
“I’m working now on community outreach programs, bringing priests, deacons, and other religious leaders to synagogues and schools to speak about dialogue and the importance of peace among religions,” he says. “They’re not trying to convert Jews; Catholics don’t want to do that.”
The Lux Center is named after its Catholic founder, Prof. Richard Lux, a retired professor at the seminary who lives in Minneapolis and remains involved in the program.
“One of our new projects is Bagels with Lux, where members of the Jewish community come to the seminary for breakfast and roundtable discussions with the priests and community there,” Gerassi says. “Our projects are intended to get the Jewish community involved in the Lux Center and vice versa.”
He does not face the kind of anti-Israel hostility that’s become all too common on American college campuses.
“If you go to any university campus in the United States these days, you’ll see 20-year-olds who think they know everything, and you cannot teach them anything. If you say something, it’s because you’re biased. They believe only they have the truth,” Gerassi says.
“I don’t know if it’s because they’re Catholic or because they’re religious, but it’s the opposite in the seminary. [Here,] They want to get more information. They say, ‘Tell us about what is happening in Israel.’
“Some of them were chaplains in the US Army, and they are very interested. They’re really eager to know what they don’t know. This is something very rare these days, especially in the United States.”
When he tells them sincerely that he feels sorry for civilians in Gaza, “they know I’m not a fanatic. On the other hand, they’re looking for someone to express pride in their Judaism, not someone who is a self-hating Jew,” Gerassi says.
“I’m a very proud Israeli and Jew, and that’s a very important component. Because if I’m proud of my Jewish and Israeli roots, it means I’m proud of their roots as well.”
Gerassi finds he can never sit by himself at lunch because after class many of the seminarians want to speak with him further and see photos from his military service.
“I’m the first, and maybe last, Israeli in this role, and they see it as an amazing opportunity. So they keep asking me questions.”
Noa Gerassi, meanwhile, observes that in the year since Oct. 7, there is more cohesiveness among the Jewish citizens of Greater Milwaukee despite varying levels of affiliation.
“The events happening in Israel deeply concern the community and inspire them to take meaningful action. Beyond that, the tension added to the lives of Jews due to the worrying rise in antisemitism gives even greater significance to our presence here. The support must be mutual,” she adds.
“I am dedicating a lot of time and thought to finding ways to connect the community to various issues that concern Israeli society and to highlight the incredible things happening among the citizens of the country because the connection to Israel must be based on a range of emotions and values, not just concern and pain. I hope that I succeed in this important mission,” she says.