Rejoicing on Passover

The sages taught [in a baraita]: All are obligated in these four cups, including men, women, and children. R. Judah said: What benefit do children receive from wine? [They do not enjoy it.] Rather, one distributes to them roasted grains and nuts on Passover eve, so that they will not sleep and [also so] they will ask [the four 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].

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 Gemara explains:] 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.

The sages taught: A man is obligated to gladden his children and the members of his household on a festival, as it is stated: And you shall rejoice on your festival, [you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, 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.

R. Judah says: [One should enable each member of his household to rejoice with an item that pleases them,] men with what is fit for them and women with what is fit for them. [R. Judah elaborates:] Men with what is fit for them, [i.e.,] with wine. And [as for the] women, with what [should one cause them to rejoice]? R. Joseph teaches: [One should delight them with new clothes,] in Babylonia with colored clothes [and] in Erets Yisrael with [the] pressed linen clothes [that are manufactured there].

It was taught [in a baraita that] R. Judah ben Beteira says: When the Temple is standing, rejoicing is only through [the eating of sacrificial] meat, as it is stated: And you shall sacrifice peace-offerings and you shall eat there and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 27:7). And now that the Temple is not standing [and one cannot eat sacrificial meat, he can fulfill the mitzvah of] rejoicing [on a festival] only by [drinking] wine, as it is stated: And wine that gladdens the heart of man (Psalm 104:15).