Isaac Luria (1534-1572) is one of the most extraordinary and influential mystical figures in the history of Judaism, a visionary teacher who helped shape the course of nearly all subsequent Jewish mysticism. The central premise of this work is that Lurianic Kabbalah was first and foremost a lived and living phenomenon in an actual social world. Thus it focuses on Luria the person and his relationship to his disciples. What attracted Luria's students to him? How did they react to his inspired and charismatic behaviour? And what roles did Luria and his students see themselves playing in their collective quest for repair of the cosmos and messianic redemption?