Duties of the Heart

The Duties of the Heart is a classic of Jewish scholarship. It discusses how a person should express devotion to God, and how the divinity bestows the finest virtues to humankind. The author endeavors to define the God-given qualities of man; these, used correctly, represent a fulfillment of duty to the divine. Principally he identifies the intellect as a means of honoring the heavens; intelligent thought directed to useful, fulfilling and virtuous ends constitutes the use of God's gifts. The introductory essay by the translator Edwin Collins makes the case that Bachye's treatise contains elements both of Western Christianity and ethical tenets rooted in Eastern spiritual traditions. Ben Joseph Ibn Bachye lived sometime between the 11th and 12th centuries, and was a Rabbi who worked as a Dayan - an administrative position that resembled that of a judge. His exact place of habitat is unknown as records of the period are lost. However he is speculated to have been born and resident in Zaragoza in Spain, as it was in this country that the Jewish diaspora produced several of its most innovative and celebrated Medieval-era thinkers.