For (as the Zohar continues), “You are He Who is wise.”
The meaning of “You are He” refers to Hashem’s Infinite Light, which is “wise,” meaning drawn down into Wisdom. This is similar to the statement of the Sages (Megilla 31a): “The place in which His [Hashem’s] Greatness is found is the place in which His humility is found.”
The idea of this saying is that any level on which Hashem’s Greatness can be perceived is so far beneath Hashem’s true reality that it shows Hashem’s humility, that He allows His light to descend to a level that can be perceived as greatness. This applies to His Wisdom of Atzilus: The fact that Hashem’s Infinite Light comes down into Wisdom of Atzilus is great descent and humility. Hashem does this in order that we should be able to appreciate some of His Infinite Wisdom. Thus, saying that Hashem is “wise” is not describing Hashem’s true greatness, it is describing His humility, that He brings himself down into Wisdom of Atzilus so that we can have some slight perception of Him.
And, nevertheless, He is still not Wise “by a knowable Wisdom.” Rather, He is called “Wise” because He is the source of all wisdom, including also the wisdom that is drawn into BY”A.
In other words, the descent of the Infinite Light into Wisdom of Atzilus still does not yet allow created beings to comprehend some of His wisdom, since Wisdom of Atzilus is still lofty for creations to comprehend. This is why His Wisdom of Atzilus is called “not a knowable wisdom,” since creations cannot grasp it directly. However, once His Light came down into Wisdom of Atzilus, it is now able to descend even further until it can become wisdom that is understandable to creations.
This statement that Wisdom of Atzilus is the source of wisdom in the created worlds of BY”A is the case even though there is no comparison between Hashem’s Wisdom in Atzilus and the Wisdom in Beriah, and certainly not the Wisdom of Asiya that would justify calling Hashem “Wise” from our perspective, since, we still can’t perceive His Wisdom as it exists in Atzilus.
The Alter Rebbe is asking a question: How can we say that Hashem is called “wise” because He invests Himself in Wisdom of Atzilus, which allows us to perceived some of His Wisdom, when, in fact, we still do not perceive Hashem’s Wisdom of Atzilus? That level of Wisdom is still too lofty for creations to comprehend. So why would Hashem’s descent into Wisdom of Atzilus warrant calling Him “Wise” from our perpective?
(Imagine a second-grade math student walks into an advanced calculus college class, and proclaims that the teacher is very smart! It is not a true proclamation from his perspective, since he does not comprehend anything of that type of wisdom. If we cannot perceive Wisdom of Atzilus, then why we would we describe Hashem as being Wise because of that level?)
