Levi Cooper (; also known as The Maggid of Melbourne) is an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

teacher, author, and community leader who lives in

Tzur Hadassah Tzur Hadassah () is a Local council (Israel), town located in the Jerusalem Corridor, located southwest of Jerusalem, at an altitude of 755 meters above sea level, located on Route 375 west of Beitar Illit, about one kilometer west of the Green L ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He is a faculty member of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he teaches

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

Rambam Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ag ...

, and

Hasidism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

. Originally from Australia, Cooper lectures extensively on the topics of law and

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

, Jewish spirituality and

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

thought. Since 1996, he has also served as a historian with Heritage Seminars. He has studied at Chabad,

Yeshivat Sha'alvim Yeshivat Sha'alvim is a hesder yeshiva, a kollel and a yeshiva high school for boys, located in Kibbutz Sha'alvim. It is one of the most prestigious Yeshivas in central Israel. History Yeshivat Sha'alvim was founded in 1961 by Meir Schlesinger ...

, the Kollel at Bar-Ilan University and Beit Morasha. He has been a post-doctoral fellow in Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law and Inter-University Academic Partnership in Russian and Eastern European Studies. Cooper established the synagogue HaTzur VeHaTzohar Congregation in the Jerusalem suburb,

Works

Cooper has a monthly column on

called ''The Tisch'', which appears in

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

. In March 2019, the column name was changed to Maggid of Melbourne. He has presented research papers for the

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is a center for interdisciplinary study in the humanities and social sciences, and the development of new ways of addressing questions of global concern that hold special importance for Israeli society and the r ...

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, the Foundation for Jewish Studies, the World Congress of Jewish Studies, and has published in journals such as the ''Cambridge Journal of Law and Religion'' and the ''Jewish Political Studies Review''. His first book, ''Relics for the Present'' was published by

Koren Publishers Jerusalem Koren Publishers Jerusalem is an Israeli publisher of Jewish religious texts. It was established in 1961 by Eliyahu Koren, with the aim of publishing the first Hebrew Bible designed, edited, printed, and bound by Jews in nearly 500 years. It prod ...

in June 2012. A second volume followed in 2016. He has had a podcast series since 2015. In 2020, Cooper was awarded the prize for the best legal history article by the Israeli History and Law Association, for his article "Jewish Law in the Beit Midrash of Hasidism" in which he argued that scholars have largely ignored the legal writings of Hasidism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cooper wrote studies focusing on Jewish historical responses to pandemics, as well as pieces exploring contemporary religious responses to the pandemic. He has been awarded post-doctoral research grants from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, The Inter-University Academic Partnership in Russian and Eastern European Studies,

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...

, and the Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization at University of Haifa. In 2016, Levi was an Academic Visitor at

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

’s Faculty of Law and St. Hugh's College. In 2022, Levi was an Academic Visitor at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Bibliography

*''Relics for the Present II: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud Berakhot II.'' Koren, 2016. . *''Relics for the Present: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud Berakhot I.'' Koren, 2012. . *''The Mizhinik and the Mizhinke, second edition'' Jerusalem 2013 ebrew and English *''Berakhot Ya‘ateh Moreh: Timepieces in Hasidic Lore'' Zur Hadassa: Devarim Meiheksheram Publishing, 2010 ebrew *''Mizhinke'' Jerusalem 2006 ebrew and English *''Royal Connections: Hasidic Masters from the House of Ruzhin-Boyan and Hasidic Masters from the House of Habad'' Jerusalem, 2004 ebrew/Yiddish *''Heritage Haggadah Companion: Selections for the Seder Table Dedicated to the Memory of Polish Jewry'' co-authored with Dr. David I. Bernstein, Jerusalem 1999.

References

External links

* Levi Cooper - Pardes facult
Levi Cooper , Pardes Jewish Studies Faculty
* Levi Cooper on The Israeli Inter-University Academic Partnership in Russian and East European Studie

*Is the Talmud relevant? Rabbi Dr Levi Cooper - launch of Relics for the Present I

Review of ‘Relics for the Present: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud’ by Levi Cooper

‘Relics for the Present, Vol. II’ Is a Must-Read
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Levi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Israeli Hasidim Australian Orthodox Jews Australian emigrants to Israel Talmudists Australian Orthodox rabbis Israeli Orthodox rabbis Bar-Ilan University alumni Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Jewish historians Israeli historians Israeli columnists Israeli podcasters