About this episode
The gemara discusses the importance of washing one's hands after particular activities such as cutting hair or nails. One should not drink water on particular nights or from streams and lakes as there are evil spirits. If one is thirsty, the gemara offers suggestions of what one can do. Why does the mishna tell us the obvious, that even poor people need to have four cups of wine, even if it means taking from charity? It is said according to Rabbi Akiva who thinks that poor people should eat on Shabbat as they would on a weekday rather than take charity. Even for Rabbi Akiva, because of the importance of publicizing the miracle, the poor need to take four cups of wine from charity. From here, the gemara diverges into statements made by Rabbi Akiva and others that they passed down to their sons or to their students about ways one should behave or ways to avoid evil spirits and other things.