The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Bereishis 18:12 the Torah states וַתִּצְחַ֥ק שָׂרָ֖ה בְּקִרְבָּ֣הּ לֵאמֹ֑ר אַֽחֲרֵ֤י בְלֹתִי֙ הָֽיְתָה־לִּ֣י עֶדְנָ֔ה וַֽאדֹנִ֖י זָקֵֽן - Sarah laughed inside upon hearing that she would have a child. One of the classic questions about this incident is why did Sarah laugh?
The Seforno explains that Sarah did not know that she was hearing an angel speak. Instead, she thought that she was hearing the blessing of a Navi and she did not think that the blessing of a Navi was enough for her to become pregnant at the age of 90 as such a miracle was akin to Techiyas HaMeisim. Sarah then said to herself - the only way that a person of my age could become pregnant is through prayer - my own prayers.
(R' Frand then said as an aside that if you were ask the average person, or even if you were to ask him which prayer was more powerful - the prayer or a Navi or the prayer of the person asking, he would say - the prayer of the Navi).
R' Frand then contrasted this with the prayers of Hagar and Yishmael later in the parsha. The Torah states in Bereishis 21:17 וַיִּשְׁמַ֣ע אֱלֹהִים֘ אֶת־ק֣וֹל הַנַּ֒עַר֒ וַיִּקְרָא֩ מַלְאַ֨ךְ אֱלֹהִ֤ים | אֶל־הָגָר֙ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָ֖הּ מַה־לָּ֣ךְ הָגָ֑ר אַל־תִּ֣ירְאִ֔י כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֧ע אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶל־ק֥וֹל הַנַּ֖עַר בַּֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר הוּא־שָֽׁם . In this incident, Hashem listened to the prayer of Yishmael and not Hagar and at this time, Hagar was righteous and Yishmael was already a Rasha. Rashi explains that the power of tefillah by a sick person about himself is more powerful than the power of an outsider.
It was for this reason that Sarah laughed - she knew that her own prayers would be more powerful than the blessing of the Navi (of course not knowing that the speaker was an angel relaying Hashem's word and not simply a Navi giving a beracha).
R' Frand then tied this into the minhag that a person should do "Atifas Yishmaelim" when he puts on a Tallis and makes a beracha - this constitutes wrapping the Tallis around the head with only the eyes showing.
But did you ever wonder why its called Atifas Yishmaelim? Why do we mention him of all people?
R' Frand answered by quoting R' Meilech Beiderman who explains that if a person believes that Hashem will not listen to his prayer because he is not a tzaddik, he can draw strength from the fact that Hashem heard Yishmael's prayers ... and he was a Rasha.
R' Frand next quoted a Gemara in the end of Bava Basra which states that there were not Yamim Tovim for the Jews as festive as Yom Kippur and the 15th of Av. It us understood why Yom Kippur, since the Jews receive forgiveness on that date, but why the 15th of Av? It is because the Jews stopped dying in the desert on the 15th of Av in year 40.
The Gemara relates that every year on the eve of Tisha B'Av those who were over 20 at the time of the Sin of the Meraglim would dig their own graves and lie in them. Every year, 15,000 people would not get up the next day and the graves would be filled in. But in year 40, they all woke up the next day...but they thought they must have miscalculated the date. So on the night of the 10th they went back into their graves and then again, they woke up the next morning. This continued every night until the 15th when they saw the full moon and realized that they were not going to die in the desert.
R' Frand quoted R' Chatzkel Levenstein who explains that every year before the people entered their graves, they prayed that they would get up the next morning, but the prayers were no 100% sincere. This is because each year they could look at someone else and say - he is more deserving to die than me. But in year 40, only 15,000 remained. They knew that they were the last of the people who had cried at the sin of the Meraglim and so they davened with 100% sincerity. This tefillah of the people for themselves was worthy of being answered.
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