The Power of Unity and friendship is a main principle in our Religion, here we are again, on Yom Kippur, about to recite the Vidduy prayers during musaf, while we will be banging our chests saying our confessions to the Almighty, just as we do year in year out on this great day, one of the transgressions that make up this prayer is the confession of 'baseless hatred' – the one think that prevents unity and friendships.
The Second Temple was destroyed due to the transgression of Baseless Hatred, the lack of unity amongst the Jews in Israel. For there is the famous story of a certain individual who was friendly with Kamtza, but not with Bar-Kamtza. The man made a feast and said to his servant, 'Go and bring Kamtza to my feast,' but the servant brought Bar-Kamtza instead."The one who made the feast found Bar-Kamtza seated there. He said to him, 'You are my enemy, what are you doing here? Get up and get out!' Bar-Kamtza said, 'Since I'm here already, let me stay, and I will pay you for what I eat and drink.' "The host responded, 'No!' " " 'I will pay for half the cost of the feast.' " " 'No!' " " 'I will pay the entire cost of the feast!' " " 'No!' And he seized Bar-Kamtza, stood him up, and threw him out!" The Talmud reports that Bar Kamtza was so hurt and upset, that he went straight to the Roman authorities and gave slanderous reports of disloyal behavior among the Jews. This fueled the Romans' anger, and they proceeded to attack and destroy the Holy Temple, ultimately this triggered the destruction of the second Temple.
If only the Jews during the Second Temple period would have been more forgiving of each other and more united, the period of the Temple may have panned out totally different. The whole purpose of the Temple was to bring Unity among the nation, and there was no day of the year with more activity taking place in the Holy Temple other than Yom Kippur!
In fact it is on these days - the period of Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur which goes along with the theme of unity -that this theme will set the blueprint for the year ahead.
It is the greatest desire of Hashem that we live together in peace and friendship, helping each other and following the mitzvoth in the Torah. The Torah separated the Jews from the other nations and today these laws are now enshrined in the laws of most if not all countries.  So many of these Torah laws are not to do with religious ritual.  Many are focused on social justice, following a just path in whatever we do, abiding by the laws that enable us to lead our lives in harmony with each other.  When we concentrate a little less on self and a little more on Chesed, Kindness, we bring G-dliness down to earth.
It was during these solemn, holy days that the story was told, in the book of Kings, that Elisha the prophet used to make a circuit of the towns and villages of Israel, teaching the people Torah and guiding them spiritually, reminiscent of the prophet Samuel. In the course of his travels, he came to Shunem and stayed at the house of a woman who had vast wealth and great prestige. -  She always provided him with food and drink. She was very hospitable to him providing lodging and all he would need, all given freely of her own accord! She also built him a small room below the roof of her house. However this woman was childless - yearning for children - it was on these days, the Yamim Norayim - that Elisha called on this great lady and asked what he could do for her. She knew the prophet was capable of so much - he asked - can I speak directly to G-d on your behalf on the High Holidays. The prophet was an important man - the prophet of the generation - it was her chance possibly to have her request granted for children.  She answered that 'she sits among her people,' she knew it was best that all her prayers should be united along with the rest of the nation rather than being singled out - since she knew every person in her congregation would have different merits which would be greatly acknowledged by Hashem. This great lady recognized the importance of togetherness and how much great it can do. He prayed to Hashem and she did later on give birth to a child who, our tradition tells us, was the great prophet Habakkuk.
You may have heard the story that was told that once there was an elderly man who was very ill and lay dying in his bed. He had four sons, who were always fighting with each other. He always worried about them and wanted to teach them a lesson and asked his sons to come to him. When they came, the elderly man gave them a bundle of sticks and said, “Can you break these sticks?”
The first son tried to break the bundle but nothing happened. He tried very hard and finally gave up. Then it was the turn of the second son to try his luck. He thought it would be an easy task and picked up the sticks. He tried his best to break the bundle but nothing happened. Then, the third son tried to break the bundle of sticks, but he couldn’t do so either.
Meanwhile, the youngest son jeered at his brothers and thought they were very incompetent. He thought he was very clever and took one stick at a time and easily broke all of them.
The old father then smiled at his sons and said, “Children, do you understand what happened? It is always easy to break the sticks one by one. But when they are bundled together, none of you could break them. In the same way. You four brothers should always be together. No one will be able to hurt you then.” The four brothers realised what their father was trying to teach them and forgot all their enmity and learnt that unity is strength.
From that day onwards, they never fought with each other and lived together in peace and harmony.

Also from a footballing perspective in the Champions League final in Istanbul, we really saw the strength of Unity, Liverpool were losing 3-0 at half time to AC Milan, since they were playing as individuals as opposed to a unit, the manager and Captain, Steven Gerrard knew the team needed to Unite and come together in order to prevent a further humiliation and limit the damage, when they came out in the second half as a new united attacking unit – they pulled back the match to three all and with the team now united and the fans chanting in unity they went onto win in penalties – it was the spirit of unity which drove them to miraculously winning the ultimate club trophy, furthermore, the following day, as they arrived back to Liverpool – nearly half a million Liverpudlians were united together in the City Centre at the parade –

While analyizing the story on the four brothers - we can see that, even in families, there is sometimes strife between siblings.  How much more difficult is it to bring warm relations between those whose beliefs and actions do not agree with our own.  There are difficulties to be overcome between, for instance, the educated and the uneducated, the rich and poor, between nations and different religions.  Shalom Bayit is a good place to start.  Genuine love between husband and wife, where self is less important than giving to the other is so important.  This is not just for the couple, but for the children to see and learn from.  How we are seen to behave, is how they will behave towards their own wives, children and others.  Children imitate the parents and the goodness they see in their own home will surely radiate outwards towards others and also be a blessing for the parents.
We live in a day and age when all around us there is the need for friendship and neighborliness.
G-D looks to us to do his work, to be good to each other and to raise up those less well off than ourselves and create here on earth a spark of heaven that helps unify us.
We set these days as a blueprint for the rest of the year to come and form more united, trustworthy relationships and work together in helping G-d shower bounty among all of us in this world! Hope you are all having a meaningful fast! Shana Tova.