You shall be over my house

You shall be over my house [In the language of the friends] “You shall be over my house, and by your mouth shall all my people be sustained” (Genesis 41).

The matter is this: Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created — He created only for His glory (Avot, Chapter 6), in order to reveal His Kingship, may He be blessed. And through this, the klippot (spiritual obstructions) are subdued beneath the Shechinah. And in what way is His Kingship revealed? When He bestows great goodness upon Israel, then everyone acknowledges that “His Kingship rules over all” (Psalms 103). And through what is abundance drawn down into the world? Through prayers, for words are vessels to receive the shefa (divine abundance). Therefore, each person must take care in his prayer — to pray in such a manner that he will be able to arouse the shefa in the world, in the manner our Sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 37a): “Each person is obligated to say: For my sake the world was created.” And how can one arouse shefa in the world? Through fear (of Heaven), as our Sages of blessed memory said ( Berachot 6b): “Anyone who possesses fear of Heaven — his words are heard.” There are two kinds of fear: one is a higher fear, which sometimes comes to a person whenever it desires — and for such fear, there is no reward. And there is a fear that comes to a person through his own strength — and this fear is called: “A righteous man rules in the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23) [see also Moed Katan 16b]. Through this kind of fear, prayer is heard, and shefa descends into the world, and His Kingship is revealed. And this is the meaning of “You shall be over my house” — this refers to fear, as our Sages of blessed memory said (Shabbat 31b): “Woe to one who has no courtyard...” That is to say, when the righteous rules with the fear of God, through this: “And by your mouth shall all my people be sustained” — Onkelos translates: “And by the word of your mouth.” That is, through prayer, all my people shall be sustained — meaning, that the shefa will be aroused in the world through it. “Only the throne shall be greater than you” — “Only” implies diminution; “throne” refers to Kingship. That is, until now, the Kingship is in a state of diminution, but it will become exalted through you. For by the power of prayer that comes through fear, shefa is drawn into the world, and His Kingship is elevated, as explained above.