Kabbalah and Chassidut teach that two people experiencing the same situation might end up with completely different results. The inner attitude and mindset of an individual influence not only how they perceive events but also how those events actually develop.
When you approach something with joy, you influence the experience itself to become more uplifting and rewarding. Joy is the key to unlocking greater positive energy from any event. Similarly, when someone approaches a situation with deeper trust in God, this attitude acts as a vessel for blessings and increases the likelihood of success.
In contrast, if a person approaches the same event with less joy, less faith, or with anxiety, the outcome is often reduced accordingly. Therefore, the same event or opportunity can produce very different results for two people — it all depends on how they choose to experience and interpret it.
This principle, that what seems to be a single reality can actually be layered and multidimensional, expressed in different and even opposite ways depending on the individual’s perspective, is reflected both in Jewish law and, notably, is now supported by insights from quantum physics.
Take, for example, a law from the Torah about dividing portions of produce in Israel for the Kohanim (priests), the Levites, the poor, and for personal consumption in Jerusalem.
Maimonides explains a fascinating detail:
If a tree stands within the walls of Jerusalem but its branches extend outside the city walls, the second tithe (Maaser Sheni) may not be eaten under those branches outside the city.
Although the tree is rooted in Jerusalem, the area beneath its extended branches is not considered “Jerusalem” to fulfil the mitzvah to eat there. At the same time, Maimonides explains, if sanctified produce is actually brought under those same branches, it can no longer be redeemed, since it is regarded as having entered Jerusalem.
In other words, what is “outside” in one respect is also considered “inside” in another. The same branches of the same tree, in the same place, are subject to two entirely different legal definitions. (Mishneh Torah, Maaser Sheni, Chapter 2, Halachah 15).
A more compelling example illustrates this principle in halakhah: how a person’s reality is defined often depends on his or her individual awareness.
Maimonides presents a case where a man and a woman are engaged in forbidden relations. If the man remains unaware of the prohibition throughout, while the woman becomes aware between each encounter (though forgets again before the next one), their obligations differ significantly.
From the man’s point of view, all his actions are considered part of one lapse of awareness, requiring only a single sin offering. The woman, however, must bring a separate sin offering for each individual lapse, as each act is a new failure of awareness.
If the situation were reversed—if the man regained awareness between each act while the woman’s lapse remained unbroken—he would have to bring multiple sacrifices, whereas she would only need to make one.
Two people involved in the same act, in the exact same situation, nonetheless walk away with completely different outcomes in Divine law because each person’s level of awareness defines their own unique reality.(Mishneh Torah, Shegagot, Chapter 5, Halachah 1).
Remarkably, what Jewish law and Chassidut teach about dual perception and layered reality is now reflected in modern scientific discoveries.
In quantum mechanics, two observers studying the same physical system can obtain different results depending on how they choose to measure it.
Consider a pair of entangled particles shared between two observers, Alex and Bob. The particles are linked in such a way that their properties do not exist in a fixed state until measured.
If Alex measures, for example, the spin of his particle along the z-axis, and Bob does the same, their outcomes will be predictably correlated. But if Bob instead chooses to measure along a different axis, say the x-axis, his result will be entirely different and no longer directly predictable from Alex's measurement, even though both are looking at the “same” entangled pair.
The crucial point is that the quantum state does not reveal a single fixed reality independent of observation. Rather, the specific measurement “collapses” the state, meaning the outcome depends not only on the system itself but on how it is approached.
Alex and Bob experience different realities because of the choices they made in perceiving the same object.
This scientific phenomenon parallels the Torah’s teaching: two people may encounter the same situation, but the reality each one lives within depends heavily on their perspective, their awareness, and the choices they make in how they respond.
A well-known story of the Rebbe further illustrates this truth in the realm of faith and Divine blessing.
Once, a man approached the Rebbe, deeply worried about his ailing father in Israel. The Rebbe told him the well-known phrase: “Think good, and it will be good.” That was on Thursday.
On Sunday, after afternoon prayers, the Rebbe asked the man about his father’s condition. The man replied, “Thank G‑d, they tell me in Israel he’s been getting better since last Thursday.” The Rebbe then asked, “When did you begin to truly place your trust in God, with real bitachon, that your father would recover?” The man thought and answered, “On Thursday.”
The Rebbe emphasized that this was no coincidence—the moment the man increased his trust in God, the channels of Divine blessing opened, allowing improvement to start.
This story emphasizes how the personal outlook a person brings to an experience is not just an abstract belief or passive acceptance, but a lived state of trust that transforms one’s internal perspective and, in turn, can shape external reality.
Joy, trust, and awareness—the way one chooses to engage with life—are not only psychological tools but, according to both Torah and modern science, active forces that influence reality.
For more information on my Joy & Happiness workshops, you may contact me @ rsezagui@gmail.com http://www.rabbishlomoezagui.com