Musar על מגילה 12:32

Rabbi Eliyah Mizrachi explains Hagar's experience and her comments in 16, 13/14 in a similar way. The Torah says: ותקרא שם ה' הדובר אליה אתה א-ל ראי כי אמרה הגם הלום ראיתי אחרי רואי. "She called the Lord who spoke to her 'You are El-ro ee,’ by which she meant: 'have I not gone on seeing after He saw me'!" Hagar had entertained doubts about what she saw in her vision. She was not sure whether it had been an angel of G–d, i.e. a spiritual light, or whether what she had seen was merely physical light. She became convinced that it had to be spiritual light, since one cannot see two successive bursts of physical light, for one is so blinded by a burst of strong physical light that one becomes unable to perceive further visions of light. [Our editions of the commentary of Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi do not have this comment, at least not in connection with 16, 13. Ed.] The altar Abraham built alludes to the square altar that I have described earlier and to the fact that Abraham moved from "his birthplace and his father's house," both of which are hyperboles for the philosophies that he had acquired in his original environment as described by the Zohar as the meaning of ויוצא אותו החוצה, "He took him outside” (15,5).

We have pointed out the difference between the meaning of the words מכוסה, meaning covered, and the word מוצנע, meaning hidden in the sense of "buried." The latter term is applicable to the תורה הקדומה, a reference to the original light which G–d withdrew. The term מכוסה, refers to the תורה הנתונה, the Torah that was eventually revealed at Mount Sinai. The reason it is called מכוסה, is that it is accessible when we make the effort, when we study it, immerse ourselves in it. When we do make that effort it proves to be our אומן, tutor, guide, nursemaid in life. The three terms “אמון פדגוג, אמון מכוסה, אמון מוצנע," between them reveal the meaning of the word בראשית. Our sages therefore alluded to this when they said that the universe was created for the sake of the Torah and Israel.