When truth encounters the data of our lives, it gives rise to confession. Truth alone can be totally abstract, an ideal that exists apart from the realities of daily life.

Preparing to teach or preach Scripture is hard work and Rabbi Leffin’s maxim doesn’t make it any easier: “Do not allow anything to pass your lips that you are not certain is completely true.”

The middah of truth is complex. It is not just letting flow off your lips that which is true, or known to be true to you. It is also about the internal ideas of truth you have within you, or think you have within you, and translating that into righteous and honest action.

The human capacity for self-deception is great. It is arguably even stronger than our capacity to be dishonest with others. Within the safety of our self-deception we can justify all kinds of vices.

The truth is ultimately not just abstract or propositional, but in its highest form is lived out. We see this in the Torah and throughout the whole of Scripture, which teaches us truth not through lists of theological facts or legal stipulations, but primarily through story.

Truth is one of those intangible concepts that are difficult to define. When Yeshua said he bore witness of the truth, Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” It’s a good question. We live in a world where truth is so subjective, that the idea of it becomes almost meaningless.

The Hebrew word for “true”, emet, occurs six times in the concluding portion of the Shema section of shacharit. In fact, it is the first word spoken after the third paragraph of the Shema (Numbers 15).

In Yeshua’s Jewish world, the pursuit of truth was not the highest good so much as the doing of it. Truth was given in the self-disclosure and instruction (torah) of the Holy One of Israel.

At a p’shat level, truth is a middah that expresses itself in the realm of speech. Much Mussar work on truth focuses on guarding the tongue from speaking words that may be false or purposely give another a false impression.

Oath-taking is not such a common practice today, but its lessons are clear: Truth is foundational to ethical behavior. Oath-taking, which is intended as a guardian of truthfulness, ends up weakening it.

As we struggle to know the truth is in our lives and what is our soul-purpose, we sometimes find ourselves cleaving to the examples of others, either present or past.

Sometimes we think we are "networking" when we share information about others. Did you hear about so and so? Oh yes, I can't believe it. What a tragedy.

So we have all been taught from youth to tell the truth. But what about those moments of tattle-taling? Guess what...they are wrong too.

Emet, truth, is composed of three letters: the first, the last, and the middle letters of the Hebrew alephbet. Like a stool, it has a firm foundation.

This story speaks to us of hidden possibilities shrouded in the most mysterious situations. Who would have thought that the beautification of the Temple would come about after the massacre of 300 rabbis?