"A woman tried to dig up some earth from under R. Chanina's feet (to use for a spell against him). He said: "Take, it won't work, for it says: "there is no one but He(Devarim 4,6)".
(How can this be, do we not learn that witchcraft has power, did not) R. Yochanan said: 'Why is witchcraft called keshafim? Because they weaken(makchishim) the Family above". (Answer:) R. Chanina is different for he had great merit!".
This is very difficult to understand. Do witches have the power to overcome G-d's plan or do they not? If they do, they should be able to hurt a person with merits as wells as one without. If they don't have such powers, than they cannot bypass Hashem's plans in any way, even for an average person.
R. Chaim Volozhiner in Nefesh Hachaim 3:12 derives from here that concentrating on Hashem's uniqueness and power willl dispel the negative powers. In other words, R. Chanina was not unique. What he could do, unlike other people is that he was able to cleave to Hashem and concentrate on Hashem's Unity to the utmost. Others who can do the same will also be saved from dark powers. R. Chaim calls it ""a wonderful segula". The Brisker Rov followed this advice during WWII and was repeatedly saved by concentrating on Hashem's unity at dangerous times(see here, p. 31).
The story of R. Chanina is preceded by another statement of R. Chanina: "No man stubs his toe below unless it is decreed upon him in Heaven". This too appears to contradict the statement that witchraft can overcome the Supernal Family. Farthermore, who is this "Family"? Rashi to Zevachim Rashi (41b DH Famalia) says: "A king's Famalya is his company that agrees with him. If the majority soured, his Famalya does not endure. He partially leaves their company, and is not as informal with them as before. Likewise, if most of Yisrael sinned, it is as if there is no Kedushah." Famalya appears to refer to Israel as it exists even on earth and also in the higher spheres.
Sefer ha'Chinuch(28) draws a distinction between intermediate powers Above and Hashem himself. Witchraft can overcome the intermediate powers but not Hashem himself."Hashem created everything with a nature to do beneficial things in the world. Everything has a power above it forcing it to do its action, e.g. every grass has an angel above it telling it to grow. Hash-m commanded that we not mix seeds or animals to make a new species and Mevatel the species it came from. Chachamim say that Keshafim Machchishim Famalya Shel Ma'alah, i.e. it temporarily overpowers the power above it. It does not say that it overpowers the *decree* above, for Hash-m decreed that this action come from them."
R. Bechaye (Shmos 22:17) explains that kishuf is like chemistry (my analogy), "Kishuf is connecting separate things. When lower things are connected, the forces above join, and a wondrous strange act results. "
R. Chananel rejects a part of our passage. He explains that it "appears as if they are Machchishim Famalya Shel Ma'alah. Really, they cannot change Hashem's decree, like R. Chanina said. The Gemara said that he is different due to his merits, but we do not rely on this answer".
I suggest that the solution may come from what avakesh wrote about BIlaam. It is based on Recanti's commentary to the the following verses in Mishpatim.
It says in Shemos 22:18 that. "Yo shall not allow a witch to live". The next possuk is: "All who lie with an animal shall be put to death". Note that it also says: 'He who slaughters to gods shall be destroyed, except to Hashem alone". These last words echoe R. Chanina's words, "There is no One but He".
What's the connection between these verses?
Recanati in his commentary on this verse brings several Zohars, including one that speaks about Bilaam and implies that the connection is that a sorcerer brings his "bris" into the world of impurity in order to perform sorcery. Recanti goes on to say: "and understand this very well". He goes on the say something enigmatic about a human's "nefesh" descending into the world of animal "nefesh".
I heard it explained that humans live on an intermediate plane of being; above them is the angelic sphere and below them is the world of animals and spirits. One can "shortcircuit" the intermediate plain by either rising above it and acting within it so that there are effects upon the world of humans below, or one can accomplish the same results by going under the human plane and working within it. Animals do not affect the world of humans because they do not have intelligence. But a human being with intelligence can descend into this lower world and cause effects there that will cause changes within the human world.
This what Chazal mean when they say that Bilaam was intimate with his donkey. They are saying that he used the most spiritual implement that a man has, his sexuality, to descend to and become a part of the animal world, to couple with a donkey and to become a great sorcerer.There is a hint to this in the Torah itself. Bilaam is introduced to us as "Ben Baor", which in Hebrew means,"the son of a "beheima".
Now we understand how witchcraft can overcome the family above. It means that a witch or a sorcerer can affect human levels and the worlds immediately adjacent to the one in which we live by descending ot lower levels. R. Chanina, however, lives in a world higher than these worlds. Kishuf cannot reach that high! R. Chanina was immune to witchraft because he lived, as we may say, in the world of Atzilus, on the levels not susceptible to the reach of sorcery.
On a deeper level, this is the meaning of the "talking donkey". There were two talking animals in the Torah: Bilaam's donkey and the snake in Genesis (see Ibn Ezra's comparison of the two). On a very basic level both are symbolic of human descent. When men and animals speak, they become equated. For Bilaams, the donkey represents his descent, not only below the level of a prophet but even below the level of a human, when he disregarded Divine Will and insisted on cursing Israel.
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