Chasidut zu Mischlej 3:19

Truly, one must know and understand, that from God’s point of view, it is all one, whereas the concealment of God’s presence and separation exist only from man’s point of view. God gave man the power to serve the Divine with his power of choice in order to unify all of the attributes and connect them to their source. Once this is done, he will see that they are, in reality, not even called attributes. This is how Ben Zoma shook the entire world in asserting, “Is it not written that that the Heavens were made by the word of God? And here, after God said, let there be a firmament, it is said, and God made the firmament. Thus, in this place, there is a difference between God saying, and God doing.” The conclusion in the Talmud, after reviewing this statement, was that, “Ben Zoma is still on the outside. But what is the actual distance between the upper and lower waters? Like the space between two garments spread one over the other; or as the space two cups fitted over one another.” That is to say, there is no separation whatsoever.³⁰⁸Likewise, there is no actual separation between God saying and doing. The separation is only an appearance in order to enable man’s ability to serve the Divine. A veil must conceal the source from its effects in the world we live in, for if the source were revealed there would be no impetus from the side of man to perform Divine service. Therefore, in Tehillim 148:4, which describes how all the elements of creation give praise to God, it does not say, “Halleluiah, all of the waters which are below the heavens,” but it says specifically, “all of the waters which are above the heavens,”³⁰⁹The full verses are: “Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens... Praise G-d from the earth, the great sea creatures and all the depths.” The “depths” are mentioned here (תהמות) but not the waters themselves. for the depth below is no more than a vessel,³¹⁰The depth below refers to the world of concealment in which man lives and exercises his free choice. and not the waters. If the waters are praising the Creator, then, by definition, they are called, “upper waters,” for at such a time of proclaiming God’s praises the lower waters have ascended and are in a state of complete unity with the upper waters. God is constantly occupied with healing the veil of separation, as was mentioned above, in Chapter Seven, with the Midrash Kohellet on the verse, “I have wounded, and will heal.” This is also hinted at in the Zohar (Vayigash, 207a): “God established the heavens with understanding.” (Mishlei, 3:19) What does the word, “establish,” mean? Rather, God establishes each day, never ceasing. He does not fix the world once, but rather fixes the world each and every day. God established that from the creation’s point of view a separation exists, and all that descends from the source in the upper realms to enclothe itself in the lower world takes on the appearance separation. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Bereshit, 22b): All of Rabbi Shimon’s fellowship stood up and said, “Rabbi, Rabbi, is there a separation between Abba and Imma,³¹¹The supernal personae (partsufim) expressing the Divine conduct of Wisdom (represented by the partsuf of Abba-Father) and Understanding (representing the partsuf of Imma-Mother) for Abba is in the path of atzilut (the World of Emanation), and the side of Imma in the world of beriya (Creation)?” Rabbi Shimon answered, “My friends, my friends, it is not like this. The Adam³¹²Meaning the partsufim (see previous note). of atzilut is male and female, from the side of Abba and Imma.³¹³The two are cleaving together as one, equal to each other. This is as it is said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ ‘Let there be light,’ comes from the side of Abba, ‘and there was light,’ from the side of Imma.³¹⁴This follows the principle in the kabbalah whereby Abba represents speech and Imma represents action. This is the meaning of the teaching that Adam was initially created with two faces, one male and one female.³¹⁵See Bereshit, 1:27 However, the Adam of beriya has no image (tselem) or likeness (d’mut)³¹⁶See Bereshit, 1:26, “let us make a man in our image and after our likeness.” from Abba and Imma. Rather, the supernal Imma was called by the name whose numerical equivalent is Elo-him (86). This name is, ‘light and darkness.’ As a result of the darkness existing in this name, father said that Adam of beriya would sin in the future.” It is apparent from the Zohar in parshat Kedoshim (page 83a) and in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 67, page 98b) that sin cannot touch atzilut whatsoever.

Chochmah and binah can be symbolized in the stages of construction. Chochmah is the bricks, the basic pieces. Binah is putting one brick on another, dividing bricks that are too large, and arranging the materials into a meaningful edifice. The basic postulates in any field of study are the chochmah element. How principles interact, such as resolving contradictions between them, and determining when the principles are to be applied, is the force of binah. When I place my hand on a table and say to myself, “I am touching a table,” it is chochmah. When I realize the properties of the table, such as the facts that it occupies space and is made out of wood, those realizations are binah. You will rarely find chochmah and binah divided. Immediately when I know of something I also realize some of its details. Their linkage causes the mystics to term them, Terei reyin de-lo misparshin, “Two friends that do not separate.”³⁶²Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes, “One of the Biblical sources for chochmah and binah is the verse: “God founded the earth with chochmah, ‘wisdom,’ and established the heavens with binah, ‘understanding’ (Prov. 3:19). The Bible states here that chochmah and binah are the basic components of creation. In a divine sense, chochmah constitutes the axioms which define the world while binah is the logical system that connects these axioms. All the laws of nature are essentially axioms, and the simplest axiom contains several levels. For example, the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line means that a point exists, straight lines exist, space exists, the concepts of existence, of shortness and length exist. All of these categories exist in chochmah. In binah they interplay logically and emerge as a coherent system of laws.”
The Stitchiner Rebbe explained how chochmah is the foundation of the world in the following manner. Chochmah is the grasping of a concept. When God conceived the need for an item He thought of the entire item and the need for it, as a result of having arisen in Divine thought, the item then immediately appeared.