BAHĀ'ĪN PAQUEDA (PĀQŪDĀ)

BAHĀ'ĪN PAQUEDA (PĀQŪDĀ). - A Spanish Jewish religious philosopher, also called Bechaie and Bechai. Nothing is known of his life (11th century). He left a treatise on morals, written around 1050 in Arabic (text published by Yahuda, Leiden 1912), which in its Hebrew translation bears the title Hōbhōth hal-lēbhābhōth (“The Duties of the Hearts”). It deservedly achieved wide circulation and was translated or abridged into various languages (partial Italian translation by B. Consolo, 1867). Rather than theoretical, the work is exhortatory; full of biblical-Talmudic themes, it shows Neoplatonic influence. The introduction defines the “duties of the heart” as opposed to the duties of the limbs, which are performed through the bodily organs. Right moral conscience is the essence of religious piety, which consists in inward devotion to God. Prayer is understood as a contemplative striving: “Our purpose in praying is that the soul may melt away in turning to God, may sink before Him in lowliness, and at the same time rise to the Creator in order to offer Him glory and gratitude and cast upon Him that which weighs it down.”