Background
Nothing is known of his life except that he was a religious judge who probably lived in Saragossa.
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Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda
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also known as
Rabbeinu Bachya
Career
His fame stems from his book, "Duties of the Heart", written in Arabic and translated into Hebrew under the title "Hovot ha-Levavot". This was the most popular Jewish ethical work of the Middle Ages.
He divides Jewish life into the observance of the practical commandments and the “duties of the heart,” which are the obligations of man’s inner spiritual life and are no less binding than the former. In this way, he sought to intensify the life of devotion and to direct the worshiper on the true path of divine worship. The duties of the heart, he held, had been neglected in Jewish circles; they demand intellectual preparation and not only Jewish tradition but philosophy must be employed to grasp them as a preliminary step to their observance.
Religion
Bahya was heir to the medieval Jewish philosophical synthesis of rabbinic Judaism with Islamic Neo-Platonism to which he added traditions from Arab mysticism, including a unique tendency among the Jewish philosophers toward asceticism. Despite these outside influences, Bahya remained completely within a Jewish framework.
Views
Quotations:
The ten treatises of Bahya’s book indicate the main lines of his thought.
1. The unity of God: Every believer must prove for himself the existence and unity of God.
2. The examination of created things: Divine wisdom is manifested through the complexity of the universe.
3. The service of God: The world to come is attained through both Torah and reason.
4. Trust in God: God is omnipresent and protects man from the dangers that surround him.
5. Wholehearted devotion: Man must consecrate his deeds to God alone.
6. Humility: Humility before God will be reflected in man’s behavior toward other people.
7. Repentance: The return of man to the service of God after he has gone astray.
8. Self-examination: Everyone must constantly examine himself in accordance with his own abilities.
9. Abstinence: Moderate abstinence of the body is a step toward the well-being of the soul.
10. The true love of God: The supreme degree of spirituality.
