The Witches of Polotzk, the Whiskey, and the Chassid Who Feared No One^[1]

(Baal HaTanya & Rav Shmuel Munkus)

The Kretschma Challenge

Near the town of Polotzk, in a district where superstition clung to the air like mist, lived two notorious sorcerers. They were feared by Jews and gentiles alike — not only for their dark arts, but for the petty cruelty they delighted in. They would scheme to make a Jew sit bareheaded for an hour, or lure him into some small breach of Torah, just to savor the victory.

But there was one man they could not toy with: Reb Shmuel Munkes.

An orphan from youth, named for his father Shmuel, Reb Shmuel had grown into a bold, joyful Chassid of the Alter Rebbe. His wit was sharp, his faith unshakable, and his courage… legendary.

One summer day, in the village kretschma, the two sorcerers spotted him. They sidled over, their eyes glinting, and began with casual talk — religion, spiritual power — until the conversation slid toward witchcraft.

“I,” Reb Shmuel said with a twinkle, “am a greater sorcerer than you.”

The room went still. The witches smirked. “Prove it.”

They proposed a test: they would take a glass of strong vodka, whisper their incantations over it, and hand it to him. If he drank and lived, it would prove their magic harmless.

Reb Shmuel agreed — but with a condition. “After I drink your glass,” he said, “you will each drink a glass that I pour for you.”

The crowd roared with laughter. The witches, confident, agreed.

They retreated to a corner, muttering their spells over the liquor, then returned and handed him the glass. Reb Shmuel took it, lifted his eyes heavenward, and said slowly, clearly:

“Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech HaOlam, Shehakol Nihyah Bidvaro.”

He drank it down in one gulp.

Nothing happened.

The witches’ faces paled. Reb Shmuel poured each of them a glass in turn. Now they hesitated. The onlookers jeered and pressed them — “Drink! You agreed!” Under the crowd’s insistence, they drank.

By nightfall, one was dead. By the next day, the other followed.

The Yom Kippur Struggle

That same year, as Rosh Hashanah passed and Yom Kippur approached, Reb Shmuel was in the town of Liozna (or perhaps Liadi — the details blurred in memory). One afternoon, while walking in the fields, he felt an unseen force pressing against him. At every step, black crows swooped, white feathers fell, and an invisible weight seemed to block his way.

He shortened his Mincha prayer and tried to return to town — but could not reach it.

In the Alter Rebbe’s beis midrash, the time for Kol Nidrei had arrived. The Rebbe turned to his son, the Mitteler Rebbe:

“Shmuel is out there and cannot come in. Go to him.”

The Mitteler Rebbe went, accompanied by Reb Elazar of Homel and Reb Pinchas Reizes. Whether others joined is unclear. They found Reb Shmuel still struggling forward, as if wading through an unseen storm.

Later, the Alter Rebbe himself stepped outside, then returned to the shul. When Reb Shmuel saw the group approaching, he called out sharply to Reb Pinchas:

“Who asked you to come for me? The Rebbe already gave me yalopkes (spiritual slaps)!”

That Yom Kippur, Reb Shmuel reached the town — but did not enter the Alter Rebbe’s shul. The Rebbe later spoke to him at length.

That year, the Alter Rebbe was arrested. Some would later say that the events with the witches and the strange Yom Kippur obstruction were threads in the same tapestry — signs that forces of darkness were stirring, and that Reb Shmuel’s fearless stand had, in some mysterious way, set the stage for the Rebbe’s journey to Petersburg.

Indeed, after the Rebbe records this story he writes “When I asked my father in-law whether there was a connection between the two stories — the incident with the sorcerers and the arrest of the Alter Rebbe — I was told that they would always conclude the story of the sorcerers by saying it happened that same year.”

✨ The Takeaway

Just as the Torah commands us, “You shall not allow a sorceress to live” (Exodus 22:17), we are called to reject all forms of witchcraft and the illusion of power it presents. The story of Reb Shmuel Munkes, who stood resolute before those who wielded dark arts, underscores this mitzvah—not merely as a legal prohibition, but as a call to inner strength and unwavering faith. Reb Shmuel’s refusal to be intimidated by sorcerers reveals how a Jew’s connection to Hashem lifts them above the shadowy world of magic and fear. Our tradition teaches that the true power does not lie in incantations, but in the steadfast recitation of a blessing, in the courage to name Hashem, and in the clarity to trust in Divine providence.

In every generation, we face “witchcraft” in new guises—forces that seek to lure us towards superstition, manipulation, or fear. The mitzvah reminds us to place our trust not in external powers, but in the One Above. Like Reb Shmuel, we are empowered to meet darkness with light, to answer every challenge with faith, and to transform every test into a moment of sanctifying God’s name..

[1] Reshimos 4 pp. 95-96, written by the Rebbe as told by the Rebbe Rayatz; See also Toras Menachem 1:171; 2:93; 6:123