Sota 45: A Found Corpse

The rabbis use agricultural halachot to help them figure out the halacha regarding a found corpse.  Some of what is discussed includes:

• The size of the Sanhedrin required (23)
• The location of the Sanhedrin consulted (closest city to the corpse; Jerusalem is excluded)
• How a found corpse compares with found sheaves in a field
• Halachot regarding the ownership and responsibility for forgotten produce; produce that has 'floated' to a location other than its owners
• Who owns a field
• The case of one sheaf covering another - can the lower sheaf be classified as forgotten, for it is concealed, while the upper sheaf is classified as floating?
• Can this picture help us to understand who is responsible for corpses that are found one atop another?
• In the following cases, if a person was slain by the sword the judges break the neck of the heifer regardless of the corpse's location:
• slain - killed by a sword but not strangled
• slain - excluding one who is found twitching, in the throes of death
• in the land - excluding those concealed in a pile of stones
• lying - excluding one who is hanging from a tree
• in the filed - excluding one who is floating on the surface of the water
• other terms are added by Rabbi Yosei bar Yehuda

A new Mishna teaches that two heifers are brought if the corpse is found precisely between two cities with the same population.  It also tells us that Rabbi Akiva tells us to bring the body to the head should the head be severed.  The measurements should be taken from the nose of the corpse.  Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says that the head should be brought to the body and that the measurement is taken from the navel.

The rabbis discuss a number of issues, including:

• The possibility of measurements so precise that cities can be equidistant from a found corpse
• The implications of met mitzvah, where an unknown corpse is to be buried where it is found
• Whether the body is formed from the head or the intestines while in utero.

We are introduced to one last Mishna.  It teaches about the actual ritual of the heifer.  After the measurements are taken, the Elders of Jerusalem return home.  The Elders of the city closet to the corpse bring a young heifer (blemishes don't matter but the heifer must be able to survive one year and cannot have worked) to a strong stream.  The break the heifer's neck from behind, using a cleaver.  That ground cannot be sown or worked.  The Elders then wash and recite, "Our hands did not spill this blood, nor did our eyes see" (Deuteronomy 21:17).  This statement suggests that the Elders did not contribute to the unknown person's death directly or indirectly.  

An interesting, very long daf.  I love that I continue to learn so much (though I recognize that I only learn a sliver of what I might learn about this text with more resources).