There is a difference between הנפעל (simple passive) and הבינוני פעול (passive participle): הנפעל indicates that the action occurs in a limited time, whereas הבינוני פעול belongs with the nouns, not with the verbs (as the opinion of the ancients was that the infinitive, the active participle, and the passive participle enter into “the gate of the nouns”), and only indicates that the action is found in the participle itself, not that it applies in a limited time.

Rava uses this to prove that when it is written ונעלם ממנו (it being hidden from him that he is unclean)⁵⁶ and not והיא עלומה ממנו, it is necessary that it was known to him in the beginning that he was unclean; that with this, the hiddenness applies in a limited time. And even though Abaye disputes his Rava’s words from where it is written ונעלמה מעיני כל חי (Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living)⁵⁷ – there is a difference in this between a passive verb which indicates that some other entity performed the action (that then the action applies from the time that the other entity started the action) and a passive verb which does not have any other entity performing the action (that then the changing must apply on its own - that at first he knows and afterwards it is hidden from him).

Leviticus 5:2 says,או נפש אשר תגע בכל דבר טמא או בנבלת חיה טמאה או בנבלת בהמה טמאה או בנבלת שרץ טמא ונעלם ממנו והוא טמא ואשם(or if any one touch any unclean thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean swarming things, and be guilty, it being hidden from him that he is unclean), usingונעלם ממנוfor “it being hidden from him”. Rava uses these words to argue that sinceונעלםis a passive verb, it is necessary that it was known to him in the beginning that he was unclean; that with this, the hiddenness applies in a limited time.

Then Abaye uses the following verse to dispute Rava’s argument: Job 28:20-21 says,והחכמה מאין תבוא ואי זה מקום בינה. ונעלמה מעיני כל חי ומעוף השמים נסתרה(Whence then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air), using ונעלמה מעיני כל חי for “it is hid from the eyes of all living”. Abaye’s claim is that the hiddenness from all living in this verse does not apply in a limited time, even though it uses the passive verb ונעלמה. However, this verse is different than Leviticus 5:2 in that in this verse, the passive verb ונעלמה (hid) indicates that some other entity performed the action, namely God, as God hides wisdom and understanding from the eyes of all living, while in Leviticus 5:2, the passive verbונעלם*(hidden) does not have some other entity performing the action of hiding. Hence, the two cases are fundamentally different, so according to the Malbim, Abaye has not disproven Rava’s claim⁵⁸.*

footnotes: ⁵⁶ Leviticus 5:2. ⁵⁷ Job 28:21. ⁵⁸ Malbim, HaTorah v’HaMitzvah Vayikra 309.