2,189. Who Is and Is Not an Asufi

Hilchos Issurei Biah 15:30

If a child was abandoned on the road and someone later came and claimed to be his father, he is taken at his word; the same is true of the child’s mother. If the child was found in the marketplace and a couple later claims to be his parents, their word is not accepted because such a child is already considered an asufi. In years of famine, their word is taken because it was the famine that made them abandon the child and, since they wanted others to provide for them, they remained silent until he was taken in.

Hilchos Issurei Biah 15:31

If a child was found circumcised, bundled, with salt on its limbs (in the Talmudic fashion), with blue paint on its eyes (in the Talmudic fashion), with an amulet around its neck, under an interwoven tree that wild animals couldn’t enter near the city, or in a shul near or on the side of the public domain, then the laws of an asufi do not apply to it. Since the parents have gone to efforts to protect the child from death, we can assume it to be of valid birth. However, if the child was abandoned in the middle of the road or far from a city – even if it’s under a tree or in a shul – or if it was found hanging in a place where wild animals could reach it, then it is ruled an asufi.