Study Sotah folio 45B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
You learned it in the baraita (Tosefta, Pe’a 3:7): In the case of a sheaf that had been held by its owner in order to take it to the city, and he placed it on top of another sheaf, and he forgot both sheaves, the lower sheaf is deemed to be a forgotten sheaf, and the upper one is not deemed to be a
The Talmud continues Abaye’s statement: What, is it not the case that they disagree about this, as one Sage, R' Shimon, holds that a substance in contact with the same type of substance is considered to be concealed, and therefore the lower sheaf is not deemed to be a forgotten sheaf, and one Sage
The Talmud refutes this claim: No, if they hold in accordance with the opinion of R' Yehuda, then it could be that everyone agrees that a substance in contact with the same type of substance is considered to be concealed, and they would maintain this with regard to the two corpses as well. And her
The Talmud asks: If that is so, that their dispute is with regard to the halakha of concealed sheaves, why did they specifically disagree in the case of a sheaf that was on top of another sheaf; the same would hold true even in a case where the sheaf was concealed in dirt and pebbles? The Talmud a
§ The Talmud returns to discuss when the ritual of breaking the neck of the heifer is performed. A baraita states, expounding the verse “If one be found slain in the land which YHWH your God has given you to possess it, lying in the field” (Deuteronomy 21:1): “Slain” indicates one killed by a sword