Mesillat Yesharim

Its stated aim is to remind the reader of one's deepest obligations in this regard, as well as to encourage the centrality of the deep study of this subject matter in one's daily life.

Luzzatto's expressed goal is to condition the reader to accept a disciplined approach to "restrain animal instincts" and encourage "the divine spark in every human into a bright, warming flame", according to Trude Weiss-Rosmarin.

The Vilna Gaon is reported to have commented that he could not find a superfluous word in the first eleven chapters of the work, and stated that he would have traveled to meet the author and learn from his ways if he had still been alive.

Along with Shirei Tiferet ("Poems of Glory") by Naphtali Hirz Wessely, Mesillat Yesharim became part of the canon of mussar literature of the course of the 1780s to the middle of the 19th century.

[3] American rabbi Mordecai Kaplan published the first English translation of Mesillat Yesharim through the Jewish Publication Society of America in 1936.