After Bnei Yisrael construct the Golden Calf and the first tablets are shattered, Moshe pleads with God for mercy on behalf of Bnei Yisrael. God teaches him the 13 Attributes of mercy. The list, strangely, includes "emet' - truth. In what sense could truth by a Divine attribute of mercy? And why is truth a quality that comes in addition to kindness? We eplore the relationship between truth and kindness to arrive at a deeper sense of the relationship between God and man, as well as between man and man. We also look at the verses preceding the Sin of the Golden Calf, which center around Shabbat. Both Shabbat and the Mishkan serve to continue the relationship between God and Israel begun at Sinai by having the Divine Presence in our midst in a normative way - part of justice being combined with hessed (kindness).