pesachim 9

certainty and doubt..... doubt & certainty.......

it can be presumed that whatever lies at the bottom of the pit just isn't there.....

(this page discusses the mishna that one does not need to be concerned that a marten would drag chametz from house to house. <<but animals do drag their food away. in this rather disturbing case that is discussed with a shocking lack of emotion >> there is an understanding that the martens would eat a stillborn baby that was put in a pit... so if a priest came to inspect it, the priest wouldn't become impure..... because the baby just wasn't there..... but if the animals don't drag it away and eat it, the priest does become impure... then it was a corpse, and the baby did exist. and it is now dead....... and then......)

in my experience it's easier to leave it shrouded in doubt and uncertainty what really happened and what, if anything, is at the bottom of the pit.

shabbat 136

male or female
dead or alive

some things exist in the grey space in-between.

(this page discusses if transgender is considered male for circumcision but not male for other issues. and if a baby who dies before 30 days could have considered to have lived, or are they like a stillborn. for english translation of this talmud page, see here)