Peace is a conduit

The following is an excerpt from an email by Rabbi Eli Mansour that I received this morning.

It is said in the name of Rav Haim Vital (1543-1620), "Mahaloket Ahat Dohe Me'a Parnasot" - "One argument deters one hundred sources of livelihood." What this means is that peace is a conduit of material blessing. Regardless of one's efforts to earn a living, the presence of "Mahaloket" - strife and discord - will prevent the blessing of Parnasa (livelihood) from being bestowed.
...The Mishna famously comments, "The Almighty found no better receptacle to hold blessing than peace." A person can purchase $250 worth of groceries in the supermarket, but they will not help him without bags with which to bring them home. Somebody can offer us the most flavorful and highest quality wine in the world, but without a bottle we have no means of enjoying it. The same is true of God's blessings. Even if we are worthy of material blessings, they cannot come down from the heavens without some kind of receptacle. And the Sages teach us that the receptacle that holds the blessing of Parnasa, the conduit through which these blessings are sent to this world, is "Shalom," peaceful relations. And the more peace a person achieves, the more "pipes" he makes available to bring down the "Shefa" (God's abundant blessings) from the heavens.
Read full devar Torah: http://www.dailyhalacha.com/ - insert January 27 as date.

Let's work on achieving peace, be it marital harmony or repairing strained relations. Let's stop allowing comments on websites which don't contribute to achdut. Let's merit a peace in which we will no longer face the danger of being stoned while on the way to visit a spouse's grave or be stabbed for wearing a Jewish star around our necks.