Dr. Levi Cooper is Senior Faculty at Pardes, teaching Jewish Law and Hasidut. He holds an LL.B., LL.M. and Ph.D from Bar-Ilan University, where he currently teaches in their Faculty of Law. Levi has been awarded multiple post-doctoral research grants, held academic visitor and educational advisory roles in Europe and Asia, and written extensively for academic publications.
Known as the Maggid of Melbourne, Levi hails from Australia. He currently lives in Zur Hadassa, where he has served as rabbi since 2005, co-founded the Lavi Primary School, and spearheaded other communal initiatives.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) fought his way across Europe, a group of Hasidic masters dedicated intense spiritual efforts to usher in the messianic era. One Hasidic account of this episode appeared in the…
Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne, Jewish Calendar, Tisha B’av
In November 2022, OpenAI – a non-profit organization – released a free preview of ChatGPT. This triggered widespread interest in generative AI and leading to the ongoing AI boom. By March 2023, OpenAI released a new model – GPT-4 –…
Self & Spirituality, Hasidut, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne
The notion of a women serving as pontifex maximus, the bishop of Rome, sovereign of papal states, and the visible head of the Catholic Church – seems incongruous. Yet a legend first recorded in the thirteenth century identifies just such…
Self & Spirituality, Hasidut, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne
The Passover Seder night is all about the faculty of speech. We talk, explain, pose questions and offer answers, discuss, and recount the story of our people. Indeed, the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesah, is a portmanteau for peh sah…
Self & Spirituality, Hasidut, Jewish Prayer, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne
The Hebrew month of Shevat is when nature in the Land of Israel awakens from its winter slumber. It may still be cold and wet outside, but the trees sense the lengthening daylight hours that herald the oncoming seasonal change. …
Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne, Hasidic Lore Series, Jewish Calendar, Tu Bishvat
Rabbi Yitzhak of Radziwiłłów was active as a hasidic master in the early nineteenth century. His father, the maggid (preacher) Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel of Złoczów (1731-1780s), was a hasidic leader in the early days of nascent Hasidism. Each of Rabbi…
Self & Spirituality, Spirituality, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne
The Battle of the Vale of Siddim – or as it is known in Jewish tradition: The War of the Four Kings against the Five (Genesis 14:1-17) – was a result of longstanding tensions in the Jordan River plain during…
Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne, Hasidic Lore Series, Self & Spirituality, Hasidut, Laws of Government
In 1933, Rabbi Yisrael Bekmeister (1877-1954) published a twenty-page collection of hasidic tales. The collection included a fascinating tale that speaks to assessing the past year, as we approach the High Holy Days. **** Bekmeister’s slender booklet included fifteen tales…
Self & Spirituality, Reflection, Spirituality, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne, Jewish Calendar
A 1907 collection of hasidic tales by Rabbi Yisrael Berger (1855-1919), Eser Orot, offered a bevy of tales about Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdyczów (1740-1809). Rabbi Berger was one of the key transmitters of hasidic tales, publishing a tetralogy that…
Self & Spirituality, Reflection, Spirituality, Podcast Series, The Maggid of Melbourne
Relics for the Present is a collection of thought-provoking mini-essays that explore the parameters and depths of prayer. Using Tractate Berakhot as the foundational text,…
Hasidic Relics: Cultural Encounters invites you on a journey to the captivating, lesser-known landscapes of Hasidism, an unfurling tapestry of stories and history, thoughts and…
In Relics for the Present and Relics for the Present, Levi Cooper explores the world of the sages, seeking relevance in the timeless texts of…