Right now you're wrestling invisible battles, never certain of what’s real or perceived. For a century, quantum physics has fought this parallel war: does reality exist before you observe it, or does observation create existence? The Torah debated this 3,300 years ago when Yaakov wrestled with an entity the Torah refused to identify, calling it both "man" and "G-d/angel" (Bereishis 32:25, 29). The ambiguity encodes a question your soul desperately needs resolved. And the answer doesn't just affect you...it uncovers the nature of reality itself.
During the 1927 Solvay Conference, where the roots of the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics were solidified, Louis de Broglie proposed a contrarian view: the exact positions of particles are "hidden variables" forever inaccessible because measurement disturbs them. Wolfgang Pauli raised an objection de Broglie couldn't answer, while John von Neumann seemingly proved all hidden variable theories to be mathematically impossible. If he was right, the spiritual realm exists only when you observe it. De Broglie, facing this mounting opposition, abandoned what he believed was correct.
Yaakov Avinu took the opposite approach: when his opponent begged to be released, he refused to let go despite a long debate (Bereishis Rabbah 78:2). For 25 years, hidden variables were deemed impossible. But what if the proof itself was the illusion?
In 1952, David Bohm demonstrated von Neumann's quantitative arguments were flawed, leading to a prolonged conviction-fueled wrestling match with his fellow physicists. Yet after a century, physics still has no consensus to the implications of quantum mechanics, as only 42% favor Copenhagen, while many find any interpretation to be irrelevant. This multi-generational inability to resolve this question is rooted in what the Alter Rebbe taught: "when you go out to war" describes your soul battling forces whose essence remains concealed (Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 36a). The deliberate ambiguity is reflected in physics' unresolved crisis: Yaakov wrestled a definite entity whose nature remains unknowable, just as quantum reality operates by laws we cannot definitively interpret. But if these stay forever reclusive, how does confronting them effect change?
When you undergo your own struggle of man vs. G-d (e.g. praying without seeing results) you're experiencing the core nature of our cosmos: a place where Hashem's presence is hidden. This same concealment explains why even the most fundamental branch of physics cannot resolve its century-long interpretation dispute. Perhaps these competing views exist in a cosmic superposition that can only be explained in a veiled world. To collapse this universal wavefunction, consider that each mitzvah you perform connects physicality to a Global Consciousness that your awareness will not be able to access until the coming of Moshiach, when every obstacle will resolve into Divine Oneness.
