LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN ZADIQ FORMON’S LADINO TRANSLATION OF HOVAT HALEVAVOT Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald Introduction Kita ¯b al-Hida ¯ya ila ¯ Fara ¯’id . al-Qulu ¯b “The guide book to the duties of the heart” was written in Judeo-Arabic by Rabbi Bahye Ben Yosef Ibn Paquda [Ibn Paquda] from Saragossa, Spain, who lived in the second half of the eleventh century. The work gained popularity in the Jewish com- munity soon after it was translated into Hebrew by Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Tibbon [Ibn Tibbon] as H – ovot HaLevavot “The Duties of the Heart” in 1161. 1 The book was aimed at instructing its readers about faith in God, ethics and good manners, recognition of God as the one creator and de- signer of all things, and repentance – as opposed to teaching the regular rituals and rules that should be practiced as commanded by the Torah. 2 The book is comprised of ten chapters: unity (of God), examination of created things, the service of God, trust in God, wholehearted devotion, 1 It was also translated into Hebrew by Rabbi Joseph Qimhi, but this version was a free translation that did not spread among the Jews. See YOSEF BEN DAVID QAPPAH – , Sefer Torat H – ovot Halevavot [A book of the Law of Duties of the Heart], copied from Ara- bic manuscripts and translated by him, Jerusalem, Havaad Haklali Lihudey Teyman, 1973, pp. 7-12 [QAPPAH – ]. 2 According to researchers, he relied on non-Jewish sources, and borrowed ideas from Muslim mysticism, Arabic Neoplatonism, and perhaps also from Hermetic writ- ings. See, for instance, AMOS GOLDREICH, Possible Arabic sources of the distinction between “Duties of the Heart” and “Duties of the Limbs”, in “Teuda” VI (1988), pp. 179-208, and the detailed references found there.