What can a Hasidic master, a halakhic debate, or an ancient rabbinic text teach us about the world we inhabit today?
In The Maggid of Melbourne, Pardes faculty member Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper explores Jewish ideas across an unusually broad landscape—from Hasidut, Talmud, and halakha to government, leadership, community, and contemporary spiritual life.
Known as the “Maggid of Melbourne,” Rabbi Cooper brings the worlds of rabbinic scholarship, law, history, and storytelling into conversation. Episodes often begin with a specific text or Jewish legal question and then follow it outward: What does Jewish law expect from political leaders? Are leaders ever permitted to avoid telling the truth? What can Hasidic masters teach us about the role other people play in our spiritual journeys? What does it really mean to “keep” Shabbat?
The podcast also serves as a home for longer thematic explorations, including series on the laws of government, Hasidic thought, halakhic history, and the Hoshen Mishpat, allowing listeners either to sample a short idea or follow a question across multiple episodes.
Throughout, Rabbi Cooper combines rigorous learning with curiosity and an eye for the unexpected connections between Jewish texts and contemporary life.
The Maggid of Melbourne invites listeners into a wide-ranging beit midrash where law, history, spirituality, and lived Jewish experience meet—and where even an old text can still have something surprising to say.
