Moshe Idel's thick description of relationships between messianism and mysticism in some key representatives of Jewish mystical tradition will be a stretch for general readers, but the effort demanded by the book will be richly rewarded. A running controversy with Gershom Scholem regarding the relationship between messianism and mysticism is the unifying force behind Idel's wide-ranging argument. Scholem sees the two as incompatible, but Idel offers substantial evidence that they can coexist (and have coexisted in a number of important thinkers). Idel is particularly interested in opening investigation of Kabbalah to a rainbow of messianic models rather than insisting on a monolithic approach. One effect of this interest is to shift messianic ideas from a distant apocalyptic future to a transformative present. Discussion of tiqqun as completion of the deity is relevant not only to Jewish messianism but also to a broad range of mystical traditions, as Idel notes in comparative discussion of Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist mysticism. That every moment of time is a gate that may admit messianic transformation of the world imparts a seriousness to everyday action that belies popular perception of mysticism as otherworldly. The book's thorough documentation will provide serious students with an excellent roadmap for further exploration.