Jacob, our patriarch, was a spiritual man and a master of dreams. Trained in his Granfather Abraham’s tents, Jacob cultivated divine wisdom and mastered lucid dreaming which enabled him to interact with Heavenly beings, skills that ultimately saved his life.
Laban, the dark counterpart, was a man of the occult and wielded mastery over the arcane dark arts. As Jacob was powerful along the holy spiritual path, Laban was equally powerful along the occult path and their spiritual clash inevitable.
According to the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (attributed to Jonathan ben Uziel), Laban actually lived for an extraordinarily long time and eventually became known as Balam, the sorcerer mentioned in the book of Numbers.
This tradition suggests that Laban not only survived to witness the Exodus, but actively worked against the Israelites alongside Pharaoh and the King of Midian, employing occult powers in his attempts to thwart them.
What makes this particularly significant is that Jacob's wives, Leah and Rachel, were raised in Laban's household. They would have been intimately familiar with their father's practices and knowledge of the occult arts. The tradition suggests they shared this insider information with Jacob, giving him crucial advantages in his dealings with their father. Leah and Rachel passed these insights to their children—the founding fathers of the tribes of Israel. This transmitted knowledge supposedly proved invaluable generations later when the Israelites confronted the magicians of Egypt during the time of Moses.
God often moves in unexpected ways. He prepared Jacob in the tents of Abraham to navigate the spiritual realm, understanding both good and evil. Then, fate brought Jacob into the House of Laban, where he spent twenty challenging years facing a barrage of deception and manipulation from his father-in-law. It was a difficult period for Jacob, but ultimately, he emerged victorious.
Laban employed every trick he knew to dominate Jacob. At one point, he even deceived Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel, the woman he loved. Interestingly, both sisters were aware of the deception, yet they chose not to inform Jacob. Classical interpretations suggest that Rachel remained silent to protect Leah from embarrassment, but it’s important to consider that both women understood their father’s dark capabilities. Rachel’s reluctance to expose the truth was driven not just by concern for her sister, but also by the fear that thwarting Laban's plan could unleash his occult powers, putting them all at risk.
Life in the House of Laban was anything but easy. Intrigue lurked around every corner, and Jacob had to be constantly cautious. Laban was always looking for ways to exploit Jacob’s deep spiritual connection to Heaven, attempting to siphon off Jacob's blessings for his own malicious purposes. Jacob was aware that any blessings Laban enjoyed stemmed from him, a fact Laban also recognized, and thus he schemed to keep Jacob under his control for as long as possible.
The influence of occult powers is incredibly strong and can dominate almost anyone’s mind. Even Leah, Rachel, and Jacob, despite their own strengths, were not entirely free from Laban's dark influences. It took Jacob two decades to finally overcome Laban, and he accomplished this by tapping into heavenly insights through his dreams. These visions guided him on how to strengthen himself and weaken Laban’s hold over him. Despite Laban’s numerous attempts, he could never fully subdue Jacob, which only fueled Laban's animosity.
Ultimately, Jacob had to escape under the cover of night to evade Laban's potent occult powers. Rachel, wise in her own right, understood the source of her father's dark abilities—his Terafim, or household idols. She stealthily took them and concealed them, using her knowledge of the occult to ensure they wouldn’t betray her, effectively silencing them and preventing them from calling out to Laban. Rachel was well-versed in her father’s ways, and in the little time she had with Joseph, she passed on what she had learned.
Among all of Jacob's sons, it was Joseph (Rachel's child) who most successfully mastered both his father's gift for interpreting dreams and his mother's disciplined control over occult forces. Joseph's rise to power in Egypt was remarkable—traditional commentaries even describe him as becoming the most accomplished practitioner of mystic arts in the land, surpassing Egypt's own renowned occultists.
This knowledge of the occult was present from the very beginning of the formation of the House of Jacob. God understood the threats these dark forces would pose to His emerging nation. From the outset, Heaven prepared Jacob's descendants to confront the forces of darkness they would inevitably face throughout countless generations.
Though we now live thousands of years after the time of Laban, Balam, and ancient Egypt, the arcane practices they employed remain just as potent today as they were then. The occult presents no less a threat in our modern world than it did in antiquity.
Just as in ancient times, those who maintain a close relationship with God and communicate with Heaven often become primary targets for occult attacks. Spiritual blessings represent genuine power, received through merit and divine grace. However, without proper protection, these blessings can be stolen, resulting in poor health and financial hardship for the victim, while practitioners of the dark arts gain renewed strength and wealth. This spiritual dynamic continues to unfold around us, often unrecognized in contemporary life.
In our modern era, we have largely forgotten the wisdom that Jacob, Leah, and Rachel possessed, leaving us vulnerable to occult influences and attacks. We've disconnected from our origins and the protective measures Heaven established for us from the beginning to safeguard ourselves in this dangerous world. Today, there are many figures like Laban and Balam among us. If we fail to reconnect with our ancient knowledge and learn again how to defend ourselves, we risk repeating the painful experiences our ancestors endured throughout history.
The first Holocaust, according to tradition, occurred in Egypt during the plague of darkness, when nearly 80% of the Israelites perished—those who couldn't free themselves from the occult influences poisoning their souls. The more recent Holocaust in Europe can also be viewed through this lens as an occult assault against our people. Historical documentation shows Nazi involvement with occult practices. Tragically, many European Jews were so immersed in academic Torah study that they lost touch with the Torah's protective spiritual powers that might have helped them resist and overcome their oppressors.
Once again, we find ourselves at a critical historical juncture, surrounded by hostile forces employing spiritual warfare to cloud our perception and undermine our spiritual integrity. Who will stand up to confront these true enemies and engage in the real battle? While most modern rabbis have lost touch with authentic knowledge of these spiritual dynamics, this wisdom hasn't disappeared entirely. The spiritual battle continues beneath the surface of everyday reality. We would be wise to study how Jacob confronted and ultimately triumphed over these dark forces in his time.