Musar su Lamentazioni 4:5

Another allusion to this triple concept of G–d-Torah-Israel is found at the very beginning of Bereshit Rabbah, where Rabbi Aushiyah deals with Proverbs 8,30: ואהיה אצלו אמון, ואהיה שעשועים, יום משחקת לפני בכל עת, "Then I was with Him as an artisan; I was His delight daily, always rejoicing before Him." Rabbi Oshiyah says that the word אמון in that verse means both פדגוג, "a male nurse or tutor," a term used by Moses when he complained to G–d how he was expected to play nursemaid to the Jewish people (Numbers 11,12). He also understands the same word to mean something מוצנע, hidden, based on Esther 2,7 describing Mordechai as "hiding" Esther so that she would not have to participate in the Royal beauty contest. Rabbi Aushiyah adds that some understand the word אמון to mean "big." This is based on Nachum 3,8: התיטבי מנא אמון, "Were you any better than No Amon?" which the Targum renders as: הא את מבא מאלכסנדריא רבתא דיתבא בין נהרותא "are you better than the important city Alexandria which is situated between two rivers?"

Let me first explain the difference between two expressions for something that is hidden, i.e. מכוסה, and מוצנע respectively. The former term is used when an object has not been buried, but is in front of us covered by a cloth or something similar in order to conceal it from view. As soon as the cover is removed the object in question is visible to all. This is the meaning of Lamentations 4,5: האמונים עלי תולע, that the people who were used to wear garments made of precious purple, (were now naked), i.e. uncovered. The verse goes on to say that those same people now had to embrace refuse heaps. The term מוצנע, however, describes something that is concealed due to its having been buried, as in the verse describing Mordechai hiding Esther, i.e. locking her up. How are we to understand the expression פדגוג, male nurse, in that Midrash? How does that description fit the Torah? We may say that G–d employed the Torah just as a king employs a tutor to teach and discipline his son. G–d employed the Torah to create through it the means to train and discipline man. G–d appointed the Torah to be in charge of all creatures, as we shall shortly explain, and as has been explained both by the author of קו ונקי, as well as by the רלב"ג.