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) 

B'shem Hashem (Hapores Sukkat Shalom)

Reb Shlomo's famous lullaby, sung to the line from the bedtime Shema, "In the name of YHVH God of Israel, on my right Michael, on my left Gavriel, before me Uriel, behind me Refael, and upon my head, Shekhinat El". The story I've heard is that Shlomo sang it to his daughters one night and then forgot it, but Neilah committed the nigun to memory.

Download "B'shem Hashem"

The nigun is sung here by Daniel Nachman, who notes: "The Babylonian Talmud in Brachot 5a says that one who says the Shema in bed before sleeping is protected from harm in the night. This portion of the bedtime Shema prayer (B'shem Hashem) invokes the angels in each of the four directions, and overhead the Shechina of God."

The melody also goes wonderfully well to the end of the Hashkiveinu prayer on Erev Shabbat.

Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006