Chovot HaLevavot (; ), known in English as The Duties of the Hearts, is the primary work of the Jewish scholar Bahya ibn Paquda, a rabbi believed to have lived in the taifa of Zaragoza in al-Andalus in the eleventh century.—as his thought's foundation, the author underscores that Jewish religious life primarily involves an emotional connection with God, emphasizing love and ownership over intellectual understanding.

Attributes of God

Adopting his Neoplatonic idea of God as the one who can be only felt by the longing Soul (not grasped by reason), ibn Paquda finds it superfluous to prove the incorporeality of God. The question ibn Paquda poses about God is, how can one know a being so far beyond our mental comprehension that we can not even define him? In answering this, ibn Paquda distinguishes between two kinds of attributes: essential attributes and those derived from activity. and republished several times (Amsterdam, 1610 by David Pardo in Latin characters; Venice, 1713 in Hebrew characters; Vienna, 1822 by Isaac Bellagrade).

English

  • Hyamson, Moses. Duties of the Heart. Feldheim Publishers: Jerusalem — New York, 1970 (2-volume edition). Originally published in 5 volumes (1925-1947). Translation from Judah ibn Tibbon's Hebrew translation.
  • Mansoor, Menahem. The Book of Direction to the Duties of the Heart. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973. Translation from the Arabic.
  • Haberman, Daniel. Duties of the Heart. Feldheim Publishers: Jerusalem — New York, 1996 (2-volume set). Translation based on Yehudah ibn Tibbon's Hebrew translation, though with consultation of Kafih (Hebrew) and Mansoor (English) translations from the Arabic.
  • Gateoftrust.org - English translation of Duties of the Heart.

Notes

References

  • Hyamson's English translation: Volume 2 of 5 (New York, 1941) (with treatises 2 & 3), hebrewbooks.org
  • Fulltext (Hebrew), daat.ac.il
  • Free English Translation of Gates 1-10