Virtues

Emet

Jewish Middot

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Emet." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/emet-truth.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Emet. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/emet-truth

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-emet,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Emet},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/virtues/emet-truth},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Truth, in the sense of reliability and faithfulness as much as factual correctness: a quality attributed to God's own character in Exodus 34:6 and named by Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, in Pirkei Avot 1:18, as one of three things the world stands on, alongside justice and peace. This entry is the ethical trait itself, distinct from the atlas's existing article-level references to the word within Kabbalistic Tree of Life discussion.

Facts

Origins

Place of Origin

Ancient Israel; the rabbinic teaching is set in Roman-era Judea. 1

Origin of the Name

Hebrew emet, truth, from a root associated with firmness and reliability; the same root gives amen, that which is confirmed as true. 1

Attributed Author / Compiler

Named by Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel as one of three things the world stands on, alongside justice and peace, in Pirkei Avot 1:18. 1

Language

Hebrew 1

Status

Status Within the Tradition

Standard teaching, not formally defined 1

Doctrinal Status Detail

One of the three foundations the world stands on according to Pirkei Avot 1:18; distinct in Jewish ethical literature from the Kabbalistic sephirah readings this atlas records separately in its existing Tree of Life material. 1

Attestation

Meaning in the Attesting Source

Truth as reliability and faithfulness as much as factual correctness, attributed to God's own character and named as one of the world's three foundations. 1

Disputed

Origin Period

A central ethical and theological term throughout the Hebrew Bible from its earliest strata; its rabbinic naming as one of the world's three foundations is attributed to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, active in the first and second centuries CE, within Pirkei Avot as compiled into the Mishnah around 200 CE. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Attested In

Pirkei Avot

Source The Mishnah: A New TranslationJacob Neusner, trans.

Attributed To

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel II

Emet, truth, is named by Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel as one of three things the world stands on, alongside justice and peace, in Pirkei Avot 1:18.

Source The Mishnah: A New TranslationJacob Neusner, trans.

Belongs to Tradition

Judaism

Source The Mishnah: A New TranslationJacob Neusner, trans.

Opposes

Maya (Deceit)

Truth stands directly against deceit; Maya, the Sanskrit term for deceit already catalogued among the arishadvarga, is the atlas's existing entry for that disposition, the same cross-tradition pairing already used for Fides.

Source The Mishnah: A New TranslationJacob Neusner, trans.