Levi Cooper, at The Blogs

Levi Cooper

Relics from the Responsa Literature

Jun 4, 2026, 8:03 PM

The Heavenly Horizon: A Spaceman’s Shabbat

Rabbi David Shloush, 2008 (Wikipedia, https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A5:Rabi_david_shloush.jpeg, Public Domain)

On 1 April 2026 – the eve of Passover 5786 – NASA launched a crewed spacecraft on a flyby trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth. This was the first crewed flight near the Moon since Apollo 17...

Apr 5, 2026, 9:57 AM

Rising Lion: Kibbutz Courage and Educational Vision

The Hebrew name of Israel’s current military operation – Sha’agat Ha-ari – evokes biblical phrases, but it also harks back to the titles of responsa collections from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Sha’agat Aryeh by Rabbi Aryeh Yehuda...

Mar 22, 2026, 12:08 AM

Lion and Cub: A Messianic Mission and a Printed Pride

Hebrew is rich with names for lions. The Talmud points out that there are six names used in the Bible for the king of beasts: ari (or aryeh), kfir, lavi, layish, shahal, and shahatz (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 95a). Lavi...

Mar 12, 2026, 7:30 PM

The Lion’s Authority: A Cemetery Crisis in Paris

As Operation Sha’agat Ha-ari – The Lion’s Roar – continues, we have an opportunity to examine another remarkable volume of responsa bearing the name Sha’agat Aryeh. As noted previously, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Ginzburg (1695–1785) published a collection of his responsa...

Mar 10, 2026, 11:43 AM

Roaring Lion: Military Operation or Legal Responsa?

On Shabbat morning, 28 February 2026, Israel and the United States launched airstrikes on Iran. The U.S. termed the mission “Epic Fury”, while Israel chose a different name: “Sha’agat Ha-‘ari” – The Lion’s Roar. For students of rabbinic literature,...

About Me

Levi Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Law and a longtime faculty member at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Originally from Melbourne, he serves as rabbi in Zur Hadassa. His research explores dynamic interplays between Jewish legal writing and broader legal, intellectual, and cultural contexts.