The Mishna Breura (559, #41 dibur hamatcil, al hakevurot) mentions a distance of dalet amot because of, "hitsoniut." What is the whole subject of, "hitsoniut?"
H. David Levine, Roanoke, VA. USA
1) It is explained in the name of the Arizal that the "Hitsonim" are the "Nigei Bnei Adam", the "plagues of people", mentioned in the second Book of Samuel 7:14.
2) We say, just before Kol Nidrei, in the "Tefilah Zakah" by the Chaye Adam, that the Nigei Bnei Adam are destructive spiritual beings created by wasted seed.
KOL TUV
Dovid Bloom
Is the precaution of the Mishna Breura applicable to every occasion, when one would visit a beit kevurot, or only to Tish b'Av?
The precaution is only applicable to Tish'ah b'Av.
The Sefer Piskei Teshuvos on the Mishnah Berurah (which many synagogue libraries possess) gives three reasons why Tish'ah b'Av is worse than other times:
1) The occasion of Tish'ah b'Av compounds the effect from the Chitzonim.
2) One of the reasons given by the Magen Avraham (which is the source of the Mishnah Berurah) for the problem with the Chitzonim is that a person may have had an emission of semen. On other days one could immerse in a Mikvah and solve this problem, while on Tish'ah b'Av one may not immerse.
3) Some say that if one thinks about Torah, this removes the Chitzonim, but on Tish'ah b'Av one is not allowed to learn Torah.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom