Midrash Rabbah Beresheet on Abraham's Circumcision as an Offering

"Rabbi Levi opened: 'And a bull and a ram for a peace-offering (shelamim) to slaughter before the Lord, ... for today the Lord appears to you' (Leviticus 9:4).  Rabbi Levi said: Now if for this one who offered a bull and a ram for My sake, I will reveal Myself to him and bless him, then regarding Abraham, who circumcised himself for My sake, how much more so!  This is why immediately after the story of the circumcision it is written: 'The Lord appeared to him in the plans of Mamre' (Genesis 18:1) to indicate that God came to bless him in reward for having performed the mitzvah of circumcision."

-- Midrash Rabbah Beresheet, 48.5


Implicit in Rabbi Levi's midrash is the idea of Abraham's circumcision being analogous to the ritual sacrifices offered by the Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash.

The Sotah and The Parah revealed through Beresheet 18:27

"And the Lord said, 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men within the city, I will forgive the entire place for their sake.' And Abraham answered and said, 'Behold now I have commenced to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ash (עָפָר וָאֵפֶר). Perhaps the fifty righteous men will be missing five. Will You destroy the entire city because of five?' And He said, 'I will not destroy if I find there forty-five.'"

-- Sefer Beresheet 18:26-28

ALTHOUGH I AM BUT DUST AND ASH :

"As a result of this statement, Abraham's descendants merited the two mitzvot involving the ashes of the red cow, and the dust used for the sotah."

-- Baal HaTurim, Commentary on Beresheet 18:27

Moreover,

עפר = "dust"
=350
לשוטה = "for the sotah"
=350

ואפר = "and ash"
=287
בפרה = "regarding the cow"
=287

The "sotah" or suspected adultress, was forced to go through the ordeal described in Numbers 5:11-31.

The "red cow" is the Parah Adumah, whose ashes ashes are used for the purification ritual described in Numbers 19:1-22.

There is an entire tractate in the Mishnah called "Sotah" which deals with the laws of the suspected adultress. It is in the third order Nashim.

There is an entire tractate in the Mishnah called "Parah" which deals with the laws of the red cow. It is in the sixth order Taharot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordeal_of_the_bitter_water

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_heifer

The Three Angels of Beresheet 18:2

From the beginning of Parashat Vayara, who are the three beings who appeared to Abraham?

"He lifted his eyes and saw: And behold! three men were standing over him.  He perceived, so he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and bowed toward the ground."

-- Beresheet 18:2


"Who were these 'three men'?  They were the angels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.  Michael, who came to relay good tidings to Sarah that she would bear a son; Raphael, who came to heal Abraham; and Gabriel, who went to overturn Sodom."

-- Talmud Bavli, Bava Metzia 86b


והנה שלשה = "and behold! three men (=701)"
אלו מיכאל גבריאל ורפאל = "these are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael (=701)"

-- Ba'al HaTurim, Commentary on Beresheet 18:2

Midrash Tanchuma Beresheet on the Order of Creation

"Rabbi Yitzchak said: When a mortal builds a palace, be begins building from the bottom and then builds the upper part. But, the Holy One, Blessed Is He, first built the upper part and then He built the lower part, as it is stated, 'In the beginning of God's creating the heaven', and then afterward, 'and the earth'."

-- Midrash Tanchuma, Beresheet §4

Midrash Rabbah Beresheet on The Names of Children Given by Ruach haKodesh

"The men of prehistoric times, being able to use the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh), gave names to their children which indicated events that were to happen to them later in their lives."

-- Midrash Rabbah, Beresheet 37.7

Midrash Rabbah Beresheet on the Ascent and Descent of Shekhinah

"Originally, the place of the Shekhinah was in the lower regions. When Adam sinned it ascended to the first heaven; when Cain sinned it ascended to the second heaven; in the generation of Enoch it ascended to the third; in the generation of the Flood to the fourth; in the generation of the Tower of Babel to the fifth; the men of Sodom caused it to depart to the sixth; and the Egyptians in the time of Abraham caused it to depart to the seventh. In contradistinction, seven righteous men arose and made it descend. Abraham brought it down to the sixth, Isaac to the fifth, Jacob to the fourth, Levi to the third, Kohath to the second, Amram to the first, and Moses caused it to come down from above to below on earth."

-- Midrash Rabbah, Beresheet 19.7

Midrash Rabbah Beresheet on Using Body Parts to Do Good Works

"Rabbi Levi said: There are six things that serve a person, three of them are under the person's control and three are not under his control. The eye and the ear and the nose are not under his control, for he sees what he does not wish to see, hears what he does not wish to hear, and smells what he does not wish to smell.

"The mouth and the hand and the foot are under a person's control. If the person wishes, his mouth can engage words of Torah, but if he wishes it can engage in malicious speech; if he wishes, his mouth can even disgrace and blaspheme God. Similarly, the hand can perform commandments, but if the person wishes, his hand can steal; or if he wishes, his hand can even commit murder. Likewise, the foot is under his control, for if he so wishes, his foot can go to the theaters and circuses, or if he wishes his foot can go to to temples and study halls."

-- Midrash Rabbah, Beresheet 67.3