Is there room in Judaism for the quest to transcend life, to let go of all the ties to earthly existence? The yearning for transcendence has been embodied in the Kabbalah, and later in the Hassidic movement which grew out of the attempt to actualize the Kabbalistic worldview. However, the mystical tendency has usually been marginalized in practice. Why? The answer may lie in the connection between death and transcendence.