Rav Shmuel handed his student a small paper. “If he casts a spell, and I am unable to respond, focus on the holy Names written here”

The news reached Rav Shmuel that he was being forced to meet with the sorcerer at a match that was to take place in a few days’ time. He was unafraid, because his power came not from his own self, but from his tremendous fear of Heaven. His fear of Hashem, and nothing else, had enabled him to harness his powers of holiness to stem evil in the first place.

Still, there were others who worried for Rav Shmuel’s safety. After all, the sorcerer was no phony. He had already clearly demonstrated through his public spells that he had significant abilities to use the powers of impurity to harm the Jewish community. What if he did something to Rav Shmuel that the tzaddik was unable to counterattack? How could the Jews let him go ahead and put himself in such danger?

“Let me remind you of whom we are speaking,” Reuven, one of the elderly Jewish locals, said to the murmuring crowd one day in shul, as they were all discussing the impending meeting. “This tzaddik is our holy defender, and the battles he fights are not for his sake, they are done for the sake of Klal Yisrael, for the sake of the honor of Hashem. That’s why I have no fear that he will be harmed.

“Listen closely, and I will tell you what once occurred… As you know, it is necessary for the Jews of Eretz Yisrael to send messengers to chutz l’Aretz to collect money for our poor. It is a dangerous, unpleasant journey, so the only fair way to determine the messenger is via a lottery system. Well, once Rav Shmuel’s name was drawn in the lottery. The tzaddik boarded a ship, first headed for Turkey. But he didn’t have enough food for even that leg of the trip. When he approached the captain shortly after the ship had set sail, he inquired when they would be arriving in Turkey. The captain, of course, looked at him like he was mad. Arriving? They had just left!