Chovot HaLevavot
חוֹבוֹת הַלְּבָבוֹת(Ibn Tibbon translation), Public Domain.
About the Chovot HaLevavot on TorahSages
Chovot HaLevavot, the Duties of the Heart, was written in Arabic by Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pakuda, a dayan in Zaragoza in Spain in the eleventh century, and put into Hebrew by Rabbi Yehuda ibn Tibbon in 1161. In his hakdama Rabbeinu Bachya explains why he wrote it: the mitzvot of the limbs had been set out at length, but the mitzvot of the heart — emunah, bitachon, the love and fear of Hashem, and the inner intent of every act — had no sefer of their own. He sets them out in ten shaarim, each resting on the one before it, from Shaar HaYichud, on the oneness of Hashem, to Shaar Ahavat Hashem. It is one of the earliest sefarim of musar and one of the most learned; many learn its Shaar HaBitachon on its own. Shaar HaYichud carries a note that some gedolim advised that it not be learned without proper guidance.
TorahSages has the complete Chovot HaLevavot in Rabbi Yehuda ibn Tibbon’s Hebrew: the author’s hakdama, all ten shaarim in 79 perakim, and the closing poem.