(“Rabbeinu Yonah”). Sha’arei Teshuvah [“The Gates of Repentance,” ethics]

Rabbeinu Yonah’s famous treaties on Repentance is the earliest work of ethical literature. The work is divided into four portals. The first is devoted to a definition of repentance; the second to a description of the various ways by which a man should arouse himself to penitance; the third, to a classification of the precepts and the punishments meted out for their transgression; and the fourth, contains a discussion of the conditions of forgiveness. “On the whole, there is a noble spirit of piety and morality permeating the book which sets up a standard of life at times difficult to follow, yet an ideal worth striving for.” See: M. Waxman, Vol. II pp.273-274.