Chovot HaLevavot, or Ḥobot HaLebabot (; ; English: Duties of the Hearts), is the primary work of the Jewish rabbi, Bahya ibn Paquda, full name Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda. Rabbi Ibn Paquda is believed to have lived in Zaragoza, Spain in the eleventh century. It was written in Judeo-Arabic in the Hebrew alphabet circa 1080 under the title Book of Direction to the Duties of the Heart (), sometimes titled Guide to the Duties of the Heart, and translated into Hebrew by Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon during 1161–80 under the title Torat Chovot HaLevavot. There was another contemporary translation by Joseph Kimhi but its complete text did not endure the test of time. In 1973, Rabbi Yosef Kafih published his Hebrew translation from the original Arabic (the latter appearing aside his Hebrew translation). Organization and influences The Duties of the Heart is divided into ten sections termed "gates" () corresponding to the ten fundamental principles which, according to Bahya's view, constitute human spiritual life. This treatise on the inner spiritual life makes numerous references to both Biblical and Talmudic texts. Contents and message The essence of all spirituality being the recognition of God as the one maker and designer of all things, Bahya makes the "Sha'ar HaYihud" (Gate of the Divine Unity) the first and foremost section. Taking the Jewish Confession, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," as a starting-point, the author emphasizes the fact that for religious life it is not so much a matter of the intellect to know God as it is a matter of the heart to own and to love Him. Bahya held that it is not sufficient to accept this belief without thinking, as the child does, or because the fathers have taught so, as do the blind believers in tradition, who have no opinion of their own and are led by others. Nor should the belief in God be such as might in any way be liable to be understood in a corporeal or anthropomorphic sense, but it should rest on conviction which is the result of the most comprehensive knowledge and research. Far from demanding blind belief, the Torah appeals to reason and knowledge as proofs of God's existence. It is therefore a duty incumbent upon every one to make God an object of speculative reason and knowledge, in order to arrive at true