How to translate העלם in the context of שבת

Question

The beginning of the seventh chapter of Bavli Shabas (and its commentaries) speaks of instances in which someone forgets that the day is Shabas, forgets that there is such a thing as Shabas altogether, or forgets that a particular action is forbidden on Shabas; he therefore does a forbidden action on Shabas. One Hebrew word that keeps getting used there is "העלם". Briefly, an action is said to be in a העלם if the actor forgot something significant (one of the aforementioned facts), and the העלם isn't over until the actor realizes his error. Thus, the g'mara discusses whether things occur "in one העלם or in two", etc.

In reading and attempting to translate the g'mara, I find myself stymied by this word. I keep translating it as "a forgetting", which is not really a word. (I mean, it's in the dictionary. But not as meaning "a time period of forgetting, until realization". Or, at least, no one uses it that way.) However, everything else I can think of is too long to be usable with any frequency: brevity is important to me. I would appreciate suggestions.

As with all "please suggest your best…" questions on this site, please list not only what you like but why you think it fits the bill.

Answer 1

Try Fugue? Fugue:

a state or period of loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with flight from one's usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy.

Wikipedia Article

Answer 2

I suggest oblivion.

Wiktionary's first definition is:

The state of forgetfulness or distraction; fig. confused

It seems to me that the distracted kind of forgetfulness is the phenomenon discussed in the laws of Sabbath.

Wiktionary notes:

(usually uncountable, plural oblivions)

Although this word is usually not treated as discrete instance, it is sometimes used that way, so I think it would be reasonable to use it in that sense. If you pluralize it at least once in your discussion, that's one way to make it clear that you're talking about discrete instances. You can also make that explicit when you introduce the term.

As a bonus, oblivion also has a sense of

The state of being completely forgotten.

which sounds very much like the "disappearance" sense of העלם pointed out by ray and by Loewian.

Answer 3

The Hebrew word itself only means "disappearance" (as in, from his conscious mind/memory) which means it needs to be interpreted contextually even in the original. If you are looking for a translation that incorporates the contextual explanation, perhaps try: "dismissal from mind" or "act of forgetting/disremembering" (or "disrememberance" if you're not ardently opposed to neologism).

Answer 4

the word means concealed or hidden as in bamidbar 5:13

"and a man lie with her carnally, but it was hidden (neelam) from her husband's eyes, but she was secluded [with the suspected adulterer] and there was no witness against her, and she was not seized."