Rabbi Ḥayim Ickovitz of Volozhin’s “Nefesh Ha-Ḥayim,” “The Living Soul” (first published 1823), deals with kabbalistic notions of the Godhead, as well as the secrets of prayer and the cosmic significance of Torah study. It presents a user-friendly and systematic kabbalistic view of the world and human existence, addressing many of the issues addressed by contemporary Hasidic texts. In fact, the work is generally viewed as the Lithuanian response Hasidism. In this course, the text will be read carefully, in Finkel’s 2009 English translation and with reference to the original Hebrew text.