Ba'al Shem Tov, Shoftim 7/בעל שם טוב על התורה·שופטים ז׳

1The Baal Shem Tov said that the sage and Tzaddik, the author of the Noda B’Yehudah, was a new soul that had never previously been in the world. It had been hidden above, until it entered the world.Zichron Tov, p. 49b