I ran across this saying a few years ago and it really hit home: Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein is not the monster. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster. There is a vast gulf between being smart, knowing the facts, and being wise, knowing what the facts mean.
I learned a new expression over Yom Tov from R' Biderman on Pesach: Apparently the term "chacham of the mah nishtenah" means someone foolish; or, at least, acting foolishly. (I checked it out with a few friends who have been Jewish much longer than I have, and they confirmed that they had, indeed, heard this expression.) Why would the expression "chacham of the mah nishtenah" be used to wittily call someone silly?
I also saw a great answer to that question in the same R' Biderman on Pesach; but first... That got me thinking: Why do we need to be told how to answer the wise child? If the Hagadah is telling me how to answer him, there must be a wrong way to answer that Chazal are preventing by giving me good advice.
The Satmar Rav explains the expression as follows: These are four types of children at the seder. The wise son is asking all sorts of intricate questions at the seder. Dude! Where have you been the last few weeks? You are just now waking up to ask what is going on? That is why we call someone "the chacham of the mah nishtenah" when he is acting foolishly. How could you have been observing everything going on and not been curious about the motivation. The "the chacham of the mah nishtenah" is asking questions to make himself look smart, not to gain wisdom. You might have thought to answer him similarly as we answer the rasha. No, answer his questions. In fact, though, add all sorts of details that never occurred to him... even to the fact that we are not allowed to eat anything after the afikomen; something he has not yet seen! Use this opportunity to encourage him to ask questions, of course. More than that, though, use this opportunity to teach him that he is not so smart; there is much, much more to learn.
I think that is why we refer to the sages as תלמידי חכמים -- literally, students of the wise. The greatest praise we give is to call someone a תלמיד חכם -- a student of (the) wise. Not wise yet, but on the way.
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