[ethics, according to the teachings of the Chassidei Aschkenaz]. Anonymous.

ORCHOTH TZADIKIM

Mordechai ben Gershom Katz

Prague

1581

FIRST EDITION under this title. Title within historiated woodcut architectural arch form border piece. Printer’s device on verso of final leaf. (Yaari’s Printer’s Marks no. 40).

Vinograd, Prague 41.

Cherished ethical work seeking to instruct man how to train the forces of the soul in such a way that one's actions tend toward the good and inculcated with the awe of God. The work is divided into twenty-eight She’arim (portals or sections) elaborating on various specific moral qualities, e.g. anger, envy, truth and falsehood, modesty, repentance, etc. For an insight into the origin of the Orchoth Tzadikim and its link with the Zitn-Buch (Sepher Hamidoth) - the oldest morality book to appear in Yiddish, see I. Zinberg, A History of Jewish Literature (1975) Vol. VII, p. 148-53.