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Text Excerpt
קליות ואגוזין בערב פסח כדי שלא ישנו, וישאלו. אמרו עליו על רבי עקיבא שהיה מחלק קליות ואגוזין לתינוקות בערב פסח כדי שלא ישנו, וישאלו. תניא, רבי אליעזר אומר: חוטפין מצות בלילי פסחים בשביל תינוקות שלא ישנו.
roasted grains and nuts on Passover eve, so that they will not sleep and also so they will ask the 4 questions at night. They said about R' Akiva that he would distribute roasted grains and nuts to children on Passover eve, so that they would not sleep and so they would ask. It was taught in a baraita that R' Eliezer says: One grabs the matzot on the nights of Passover. One should eat them very quickly on account of the children, so that, due to the hasty consumption of the meal, they will not sleep and they will inquire into the meaning of this unusual practice.
תניא, אמרו עליו על רבי עקיבא: מימיו לא אמר הגיע עת לעמוד בבית המדרש, חוץ מערבי פסחים וערב יום הכפורים. בערב פסח — בשביל תינוקות, כדי שלא ישנו. וערב יום הכפורים — כדי שיאכילו את בניהם.
It was taught in a baraita: They said about R' Akiva that in all his days he never said to his students that the time had come to arise from their learning in the study hall. Instead, he would continue to teach as long as they were willing to listen. This was true except for the eves of Passover and the eve of Yom Kippur, when he would stop teaching. The Talmud explains the reasons for these exceptions: On the eve of Passover, he would stop on account of the children, so that they would go to sleep during the day, so that they would not be tired and sleep at night. And on the eve of Yom Kippur, he would stop so that his students would remember to feed their children.
תנו רבנן: חייב אדם לשמח בניו ובני ביתו ברגל, שנאמר: ״ושמחת בחגך״. במה משמחם — ביין.
A baraita states: A man is obligated to gladden his children and the members of his household on a Festival, as it is stated: “And you should rejoice on your Festival, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your female slave, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are within your gates” (Deuteronomy 16:14). With what should one make them rejoice? With wine.