Rabbi Ben Zion Goldberg-Yadler, the "Maggid of Jerusalem", was born in Jerusalem on 8 Kislev 5632 (1871), the son of Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Yadler, author of Tiferet Zion on Midrash Rabbah. He studied at the Etz Chaim yeshiva and, after his marriage, at the Pri Yitzchak kollel, and in 1894 received semicha from Rabbi Shmuel Salant, the rabbi of Jerusalem, and his court.

Suffering from poor eyesight as a child, he grew used to learning by heart. His gift for preaching showed early: whenever his father completed a tractate with his listeners at the Menachem Zion beit midrash in the Hurva courtyard, young Ben Zion gave the closing address. In 1902 Rabbi Shmuel Salant invited him to preach on Shabbat Zachor in the great Hurva synagogue and then appointed him "Maggid Meisharim" of Jerusalem, a post he held without pay for many years.

For seventy years his voice rang out without pause in the towns of the Land of Israel, stirring hearts to repentance and good deeds. Beloved by all the Jews of the land, he travelled to communities and new settlements to preach; his Tisha B'Av sermon drew crowds. Agnon modelled a character on him in his novel Temol Shilshom.

His memoirs, published as Betuv Yerushalayim, are a valuable record of life in Jerusalem in his time. He passed away on 15 Av 5722 (1962).