In my late twenties, I developed a deep fascination for vintage motorcycles. One day, I discovered an old Harley-Davidson WLA abandoned in a barn in Devon. These motorcycles had been brought over by the American Army for the D-Day landings, but this particular one never made it across the Channel in 1944 and remained buried for 30 years. The WLA was an ideal military bike because it had significant tolerance for imprecision; it was built to function even if its parts were only roughly aligned. Unlike a BMW or a Ducati, which demand exact precision, a battlefield machine must be resilient and forgiving.
This reminds me of a concept in Judaism known as b’dieved, a term that defies direct translation, but is often rendered as "after the fact." Every mitzvah (commandment) has an ideal form of fulfillment, referred to as lechatchila. However, there is also a degree of flexibility, a recognition that while a mitzvah may not have been performed in the most optimal way, it can still be valid and effective.
The WLA was the ultimate embodiment of b’dieved. And as I reflected on this, I recognized the profound kindness of G-d in allowing for b’dieved to exist. Has there ever been a person who performed every mitzvah perfectly, without deviation, every single moment of their life? A mitzvah represents the will of G-d, and where G-d Himself is concerned, there can be no b’dieved, only absolute precision.
The will of Hashem is unified, just as He is One. In Hebrew, the word for "one" (echad) is closely related to the word for "sharp" (chad). A blade is sharpest where its two edges meet at their closest point, reflecting the idea that unity and precision go hand in hand. In the loftiest spiritual realms, where the will of G-d is undiluted, there is no room for flexibility. But as that Divine will descends through countless layers of existence, becoming further and further removed from its source, it allows for greater latitude—until, in this lowest of worlds, there exists the concept of b’dieved, a space where human imperfection is acknowledged and accounted for.
