ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף ירמיהו 17:12

There is a midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 1), that the reason why [the Torah] opened with a "bet" and not with an "aleph", is because the "bet" has a connotation of blessing ("B"racha), and "aleph" has a connotation of cursing ("A"rirah). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I will open with a "bet", with a connotation of blessing, and if it would only be that it should be able to be fulfilled! Alternatively: [The reason the Torah opens with a "bet", which equals two in gematria] is because of the two worlds that were created, this world and the world to come. Alternatively: [The reason the Torah opens with a "bet", which equals two in gematria] is because of the two Torahs, the written Torah, and the oral Torah, to teach you that the world was created in the merit of the Torah and its learners. Bereishit: The [same Hebrew] letters as "Bet Resh" [="first house"], meaning the first Temple, as it says (Jeremiah 17:12) "An honorable throne, exalted from the beginning, the place of our Temple." Alternatively: The [same Hebrew] letters as "A' B'Tishrei" [="1st of Tishrei"], which was when the world was created. Alternatively: The [same Hebrew] letters as "Yirei Shabbat" [="Awe of the Sabbath"], to tell you that the world was created in the merit of Shabbat. Alternatively: The [same Hebrew] letters as "Brit Aish" [="Covenant, Fire"], that in the merit of "covenant", which is circumcision, and in the merit of fire, which is the Torah, we will be saved from the judgement of Gehinnom. Alternatively: The [same Hebrew] letters as "Briat Yesh" [="Creation of something/310"], for the creation of 310 worlds for every righteous individual.

Another explanation for why it is simply called “the place”: Because it is the place of the world, both from the perspective that there lies the Foundation Stone from which the world was founded, and from the perspective that still the entire world is founded upon it, as from it emanates abundance to the entire world. And Jacob sensed that this would be the place of the Temple because he saw that the sun set there at an unusual time, because this holy place dims the sphere of the sun and does not need the sun. On the contrary, the sun needs it, as our Sages said (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:2): Rabbi Avin said, “You find that one who wants to make windows for himself makes them wide on the inside and narrow on the outside so that they draw light from outside. But the windows of the Temple were wide on the outside and narrow on the inside — why? So that light would emanate from the Temple and illuminate the world, as it is said And the earth shined with His glory (Ezekiel 43:2), and it is written A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12).” See this version in Yalkut Shimoni Parshat Tetzaveh. And from here is proof that the sun does not illuminate the Temple; therefore, the sun’s light dimmed immediately upon reaching this holy place, and at evening time there shall be light because God illuminated the supreme light from this holy place until God appeared to him in a vision that night.

“And he took from the stones of the place and put them at his head, etc.” After he realized that this place would become the House of God which dims the sun’s orbit, he therefore took from the stones of the place and placed them as protection for his head, to demonstrate the beloved holiness upon them, as it is written For Your servants desire its stones (Psalms 102:15). He took 12 stones corresponding to the 12 tribes, as it appears in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 68:11), and the stones quarreled, each one saying “Upon me shall the righteous one rest his head,” until they became one stone. This hints to the future, as written by the Guide for the Perplexed, that the Holy One Blessed be He concealed the location that would become the place of the Temple and the King’s palace so there wouldn’t be quarreling between the tribes, as each tribe would desire that holy place. For the sake of peace it was said that the Lord will choose from all your tribes (Deuteronomy 12:5) and it is written only in the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes (Deuteronomy 12:14). How so? When David bought the threshing floor from Araunah the Jebusite, he collected money from all the tribes, as Rashi explains there. Therefore, this quarrel that occurred between the stones which ultimately became one stone was a sign and marker for the future, that likewise there would be a quarrel between the crown stones — the 12 tribes of God — as each tribe would say “upon me shall the Righteous One of the world rest His head,” referring to the Temple, about which it is said From the beginning, exalted, was the place of our sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12). Eventually they became one stone through David collecting gold from all of them. Regarding this stone, it was said about the Second Temple And he shall bring forth the headstone (Zechariah 4:7), meaning the very stone that was at Jacob’s head was brought forth to establish God’s Temple. Jacob made it into a bed to lie upon, to be a sign that this would be “the bed of Solomon” — the king to whom peace belongs — as Rashi explains in Song of Songs on the verse Behold, it is Solomon’s bed (Song of Songs 3:7).