The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 

What the mute world is saying

From Ya'akov Lainer, the son of the Izhbitzer rebbe:

In this world, what is further below branches off from a higher place.

The animal branches from [the spirit of] the ox that is in the chariot [of Ezekiel], where the chayot (animals: eagle, lion, ox) stand in radiance always, without any forgetting [of God], and so they don't remember anything in or about themselves...And so, from the ox above branches off beasts of the field, which in this world are completely without consciousness da`at and don't have komah z'kufah erect posture.

And the domim silent ones (rocks etc.) from this world branch off from a place even more high. A mashal (parable): [it is like] one who stands before the king and nullifies himself completely from existence because of awe of the king, and for this [reason] he has no movement in him. And to one who looks at him, it appears that there is no life in him, but in truth there is true life there.

Beit Ya'akov, Vayikra 18

with thanks to Sarah Idit Schneider, who quoted this source in her pamphlet "Eating as Tikkun"

Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006