Question: What does it mean to become a sage in Kabbalah?

Answer: A “sage” is a person who has gained wisdom (Hochma). However, the Light of Hochma remains at absolute rest, and in order for us to obtain it, we have to possess the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), the “garments.” This means that a “sage” is honored not for his “wisdom,” but because he has made himself a garment from the Light of Hassadim, which “wisdom,” the Light of Hochma, was able to clothe in.

We regard the Creator as the sage. A wise man is regarded as “Talmid Hacham,” “a disciple of the sage,” since he is learning how to obtain wisdom (Hochma) to let the Creator clothe in him. We honor Kabbalists for the anti-egoistic screens and faith they acquired, thanks to which the Creator’s wisdom had clothed in them. It isn’t the case that they simply got smarter naturally. Hence they are called the “disciples of the sage,” the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/2011, Writings of Rabash

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