Kommentar zu Wajikra 27:7

ואם מבן ששים שנה AND IF IT BE FROM SIXTY YEARS OLD [AND ABOVE; IF IT BE A MALE THEN THE VALUATION SHALL BE FIFTEEN SHEKELS, AND FOR THE FEMALE TEN SHEKELS] — When one approaches old age a woman is more likely to be of the same importance as a man therefore a man decreases to beyond a third of his valuation when he becomes old (his ערך being fifty shekels and after sixty only fifteen, which is less then 17, the approximate third of 50), whilst a woman decreases only to exactly a third of her valuation (which was previously thirty shekels, and after sixty becomes ten), because people say (i. e. there is a familiar saying): “An old man in the house is a snare (a nuisance) in the house, an old woman in the house is a treasure in the house and a good omen in the house” (Arakhin 19a).

An old man in the houseùa snare (פחא) in the house. Like the expression “a net (פח) that snares” (Tehillim 91:3). I.e., it is bad to have him in the house.

ואם מבן ששים שנה ומעלה, “and if the person whose valuation is being “donated to the Temple treasury is above the age of sixty at the time;” whence do we know that if that person at the time of the valuation is exactly sixty years old it is valued as if between twenty and sixty years of age? We derive this from the wording of “sixty or above.” [That word is unnecessary unless it was meant to teach us something new. Ed.] I might think that this rule applies only to the sixtieth year, and not to the fifth, twentieth, etc; we derive the rule for those years by the use of logic when comparing it to the valuation of the five year old. As to the reason why the females’ valuation is so much less that that of males of the same age, this is based on the fact that, generally, males perform heavier physical labor than women. When men age, their ability to perform heavy labor declines at a more rapid pace than that of females of comparable age who do lighter domestic tasks.

An old woman in the houseùa treasure (סימא) in the house. A good treasure. The Targum translates ומטמוני מסתרים, “secret hidden things” (Yeshayahu 45:3) as סימא דמטמרן.