פירוש על ברכות 10:23

It is well known that, in the Orient, males are more valued than females. Lane, p. 58, mentions that Muhammadan women often dress their boys as girls when taking them into the street so that envious glances be not cast upon them and to avert the Evil Eye. See also Frazer, Folklore of the Old Testament, I. p. 550 and T. A. II. p. 434 n. 89.

The word for "treasure" is safun, and by the change of a vowel, safon, we get the meaning "North." Cf. also fol. 61 b, where it is forbidden to perform the functions of nature towards East or West, to prevent the exposure of the body in the direction of the Temple.