Our Gemara on Amud Beis describes how Rabbi Chanina was impervious to someone who was directing powerful sorcery against him. The Gemara notes that normally sorcery has the ability to function, in some way, contrary to God’s heavenly entourage. Ordinary people still might succumb. However, because this sage had a certain awareness embodied in the verse “There is none else beside Him” (Devarim 4:35), the magic had no power. The story is notable because even as the witch tries to take dirt from his feet, as somehow that gives her power, he did not try to stop her, and effectively said, “Bring it on! Your magic will have no power on me!”

However, this seems perilously close to violating the principle that one should not endanger himself and rely on a miracle. As the Gemara Shabbos (32a) warns:

“A person should never stand in a place of danger saying that the heavenly messengers will perform a miracle for him, lest in the end they do not perform a miracle for him. And, moreover, even if they do perform a miracle for him, they will deduct it from his merits.”

We might answer that since, as the Gemara stated, sorcery has some power to even thwart heavenly will, part of Rabbi Chanina’s mission was to make a kiddush Hashem and show that it is not absolutely true. He wanted to show that while magic has some effect that can push back against the will of God, it is only a relative term. When facing a person who has adequate merits, even powerful magic cannot exploit any weak spots and spiritual vulnerabilities. This is why Rabbi Chanina faced the witch down in such a fearless, confrontational manner — so everyone would know that true spirituality wins out.

However, there is a deeper theme. I believe this Rabbi Chanina is the same person as Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa found in the following Gemara (Berachos 33a):

“There was an incident in one place where an arvad was harming the people. They came and told Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa and asked for his help. He told them: Show me the hole of the arvad. They showed him its hole. He placed his heel over the mouth of the hole and the arvad came out and bit him, and died. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa placed the arvad over his shoulder and brought it to the study hall. He said to those assembled there: See, my sons, it is not the arvad that kills a person, rather transgression kills a person. The arvad has no power over one who is free of transgression.”

In this story there is no witch, only a deadly serpent. Here too Rabbi Chanina endangered his life, relied on a miracle and clearly had a lesson to teach everybody about how only God is in charge.

Yet we remain with a question: how is he able to do this and why is this not considered relying on miracles? I believe the answer lies in the way Nefesh Hachaim (III:12) conceptualizes meditating on this verse, “There is none else beside Him.” Rav Chaim Volozhin explains that this is different than simply relying on miracles and merits. If a person fully believes that the only true influence in his life and in the world is God, he is no longer vulnerable to lesser influences. If he reaches a state of complete detachment from physical worries and physical needs, he simply is not affected.

By way of metaphor, if a person knew that he had immunity to a certain disease, he would not be relying upon miracles to have close physical contact with someone who’s infected. Or, someone who had ingested an antidote to a particular toxin would not be putting himself in danger if he then consumed the toxin. The point is, the physical and impure forces of this world have a certain power on a continuum. They extend from regular everyday entropy to more sinister forms of magic that have some power to thwart the will of God. Yet they are limited in their reach and only exploit the existing vulnerabilities within the person. If a person is fully attached to God and makes Him his sole influence and focus, he is essentially bullet proof.