הגר (קטורה)

Hagar is the Egyptian handmaid who saw an angel in the wilderness, and whose life is a journey of banishment and return. Sarah's handmaid, she was given to Abraham as a wife when Sarah did not bear children, and when she conceived, 'her mistress was lowered in her eyes' (Genesis 16:4), she acted with pride toward Sarah, and fled from her into the wilderness.

There, by a spring of water, an angel appeared to her, a rare occurrence for a woman in the Torah, and told her to return and submit to her mistress, and promised her a son. Hagar called the place 'You are the God who sees me,' 'have I even here seen after He saw me' (Genesis 16:13): a simple woman who merited to see and to be seen in the eyes of Heaven.

Tradition identifies Hagar with Keturah, whom Abraham took as a wife after Sarah's death, and expounds 'Keturah' from a word for binding: that she bound her deeds like incense, that she returned and bettered her way. From the handmaid who acted with pride arose a woman who repaired her way and returned to Abraham's house.

What do we learn from her? That even a simple person and even one who has erred can merit a gaze from Heaven, 'You are the God who sees me,' and return and repair. Hagar teaches that providence sees the outcast in the wilderness, and that a path of pride and flight can end in return and repair, as tradition hinted in the name 'Keturah.'