Chovot HaLevavot חובות הלבבות
"Duties of the Heart": the first book on inner work—on the commandments that belong not only to the hands.
Rabbi Bachya ibn Pakuda begins with a reproach: many books have been written about what a man must do, and almost none about what he must feel and think. Hence the division: the duties of the limbs and the duties of the heart.
The book is built as a ladder of ten "gates": the unity of the Creator, the examination of the world, service, trust, purity of intention, humility, repentance, self-examination, abstinence and love. It was written in Arabic around 1080 and translated into Hebrew by Yehuda ibn Tibbon; since then it has been studied in every community, and the musar school made it the foundation of its reading.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Chovot HaLevavot, introduction — the duties of the limbs and the duties of the heart
- Chovot HaLevavot, the Gate of Trust — the most read part of the book
Basis: documents and evidence.