The goal of Jewish mysticism is the effort (combined with the practice) to come close to things, a yearning for identification.
This yearning includes all things, small and large, but its special goal is an identification with the innermost aspect of everything—the Divine.
Mysticism, therefore, is the desire to remove the outer covering of things which hide their inner quality.
Only through finding innerness in our life, as well as the innerness of all things, will this desire for full identification enjoy any kind of gratification.
It is possible, therefore, to perceive two processes at work in mysticism.
First, an activity which is mainly speculative—that is, the intellectual effort to remove the shells of reality.
Second, the activity by which, after the removal of the outer coverings, one binds oneself to the truth.
These two processes make up, respectively, the philosophy and practice of mysticism.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz