{{for|the professional wrestler|Tucker Knight}} {{Cleanup bare URLs|date=September 2022}} thumb|Cooper in 2009 '''Levi Cooper''' ({{Langx|he|לוי קופר}}; also known as '''The Maggid of Melbourne<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/magazine/maggid-of-melbourne-karlin-classics-581978|title=Maggid of Melbourne: Karlin classics|website=The Jerusalem Post &#124; JPost.com|date=27 February 2019 }}</ref>''') is an Orthodox Jewish teacher, author, and community leader who lives in Tzur Hadassah, Israel. He is a faculty member of the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he teaches Midrash, Talmud, Rambam, and Hasidism. Originally from Australia, Cooper lectures extensively on the topics of law and Halakha, Jewish spirituality and Hasidic thought. Since 1996, he has also served as a historian with Heritage Seminars.<ref>[http://heritageseminars.org/our-historians/ "Our Historians"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026230403/http://heritageseminars.org/our-historians/ |date=2016-10-26 }}.''Heritage Seminars''.</ref> He has studied at Chabad, Yeshivat Sha'alvim, 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, Tzur Hadassah.<ref name=Ynet>{{cite news|last=Mezuman|first=Yaniv|title= קהילה בשבוע: "הצור והצוהר" בצור הדסה|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3515853,00.html|accessdate=8 July 2012|newspaper=ynet|date=9 March 2008}}</ref>

==Works== {{Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)|Rebbes of Chabad}} Cooper has a monthly column on Hasidism called ''The Tisch'', which appears in The Jerusalem Post.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Judaism/Article.aspx?id=271248 | title=The Tisch: The embodiment of Torah | date=2012-05-24 | accessdate=June 27, 2012 | author=Cooper, Levi}}</ref> In March 2019, the column name was changed to Maggid of Melbourne.<ref name=":0" />

He has presented research papers for the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Bar-Ilan University, 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''<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-and-religion/article/towards-a-judicial-biography-of-rabbi-shneur-zalman-of-liady/2FDA2C4E8D821E99F03070A1241DC970 "TOWARDS A JUDICIAL BIOGRAPHY OF RABBI SHNEUR ZALMAN OF LIADY"]. ''Cambridge Journal of Law and Religion''. Accessed September 20, 2016.</ref> and the ''Jewish Political Studies Review''.<ref>[http://www.daat-hamakom.com/team/dr-levi-cooper/ "Dr. Levi Cooper"]. Accessed September 20, 2016.</ref>

His first book, ''Relics for the Present''<ref name="korenpub.com">{{Cite web|url=https://korenpub.com/collections/rabbi-levi-cooper|title = Rabbi Levi Cooper}}</ref> was published by Koren Publishers Jerusalem in June 2012. A second volume followed in 2016.<ref name="korenpub.com"/>

He has had a podcast series since 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elmad.pardes.org/topic/specials/hasidic-lore-series/|title=A Shot of Torah – the Maggid of Melbourne|newspaper=Elmad Online Learning|language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Israeli History & Law Association {{!}} The David Berg Foundation Institute for Law and History {{!}} Tel Aviv University | url=https://en-law.tau.ac.il/Berg_main/The%20Israeli_History_and_Law_Association | access-date=2026-05-17 | website=en-law.tau.ac.il}}</ref>

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cooper wrote studies focusing on Jewish historical responses to pandemics,<ref>Levi Cooper, "[http://www.aajs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cooper_AJJS_XXXIII_2020_5-26.pdf Pandemics in the Promised Land: The Hasidic Experience]," Australian Journal of Jewish Studies 33 (2020): [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3776643 5-2]</ref> as well as pieces exploring contemporary religious responses to the pandemic.<ref>Levi Cooper, “[https://ari.nus.edu.sg/20331-93 Jewish Mourning Practices Under Lockdown and Quarantine: The COVID Kaddish Conundrum],” CoronAsur: Religion & COVID-19, 17 June 2021 Levi Cooper, “[https://ari.nus.edu.sg/20331-98/ Jewish Prayer Quorums in the Shadow of Corona: Congregating for Prayer when Congregating is Prohibited],” CoronAsur: Religion & COVID-19, 17 August 2021 Levi Cooper, "[https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-021-09395-x Kaddish during COVID: Mourning Rituals during a Pandemic]," Contemporary Jewry 41, no. 1 (2021): 39-69</ref>

He has been awarded post-doctoral research grants from Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv University, The Inter-University Academic Partnership in Russian and Eastern European Studies,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://iuap.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/home | title=Home }}</ref> Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the Jewish Galicia and Bukovina Organization at University of Haifa. In 2016, Levi was an Academic Visitor at University of Oxford’s Faculty of Law and St. Hugh's College.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/ |title=Home |website=law.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> In 2022, Levi was an Academic Visitor at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lhlt.mpg.de/en | title=Home }}</ref> in Frankfurt.

==Bibliography==

*''Relics for the Present II: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud Berakhot II.'' Koren, 2016. {{ISBN|9781592644421}}. *''Relics for the Present: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud Berakhot I.'' Koren, 2012. {{ISBN|9781592643608}}. *''The Mizhinik and the Mizhinke, second edition'' Jerusalem 2013 [Hebrew and English]. *''Berakhot Ya‘ateh Moreh: Timepieces in Hasidic Lore'' Zur Hadassa: Devarim Meiheksheram Publishing, 2010 [Hebrew]. *''Mizhinke'' Jerusalem 2006 [Hebrew and English]. *''Royal Connections: Hasidic Masters from the House of Ruzhin-Boyan and Hasidic Masters from the House of Habad'' Jerusalem, 2004 [Hebrew/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 == {{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* Levi Cooper - Pardes faculty [http://www.pardes.org.il/faculty/levi-cooper/ Levi Cooper | Pardes Jewish Studies Faculty] * Levi Cooper on The Israeli Inter-University Academic Partnership in Russian and East European Studies [http://iuap.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/fellowships-grants/current-fellows.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208145617/http://iuap.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/fellowships-grants/current-fellows.html |date=2018-12-08 }} *Is the Talmud relevant? Rabbi Dr Levi Cooper - launch of Relics for the Present II [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeajKSJp5pU] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3BlnK97KeY&list=PLyD9d-D6KQ6vo-t4MbxNeGetcqvnvOVxV&index=8] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJcPdB9aaQM] * [http://theseandthose.pardes.org/2013/03/16/review-of-relics-for-the-present-by-levi-cooper/ Review of ‘Relics for the Present: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud’ by Levi Cooper] * [http://jewishlinknj.com/features/16145-relics-for-the-present-vol-ii-is-a-must-read ‘Relics for the Present, Vol. II’ Is a Must-Read]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Levi}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Israeli Hasidim Category:Australian Orthodox Jews Category:Australian emigrants to Israel Category:Talmudists Category:Australian Orthodox rabbis Category:Israeli Orthodox rabbis Category:Bar-Ilan University alumni Category:Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Category:Jewish historians Category:Israeli historians Category:Israeli columnists Category:Israeli podcasters