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Booklet meant as an introductory letter to the students of the Yeshivah by R. Jacob Moses ben Zebulun Harlap, Rosh ha-Yeshivah. He begins that he turns to them, addressing them as brothers and teachers, with the voice of love and cherishment from the depth of his heart. He then instructs them on several levels, making this a valuable and instructive work for students of all ages and times.
Jacob Moses Ben Zebulun Harlap, (1883–1951), Erez Israel rabbi. Harlap was born in Jerusalem, where his father, who had emigrated from Poland, was a dayyan in the bet din of Moses Joshua Judah Leib Diskin. His main teacher was the Jerusalem scholar, Zevi Michael Shapira and under his influence Harlap engaged in Kabbalah and practiced asceticism. After Shapira's death, Harlap published Zevi la-zaddik (1907) in his memory, and arranged his writings for publication, publishing his halakhic work Ziz ha-Kodesh (two parts, 1920–51) with his own additions. When Rabbi A.I. Kook arrived in Erez Israel in 1904, Harlap immediately came under his influence, and a bond of unusual intimacy developed between them which was strengthened by their common interest in Kabbalah and their leaning toward mysticism and poetic meditation. Harlap was particularly attracted by Kook's thought which stressed the special role of the Jewish people as a whole, the sanctity of the Land of Israel, and the Zionist movement and its upbuilding of Erez Israel – a first stage in the future messianic redemption.
When in 1908 the Sha'arei Hesed district of Jerusalem was established outside the Old City, Harlap was appointed its rabbi. In 1912 he was appointed to the Ez Hayyim yeshivah. In 1918 he was one of the chief speakers at the meeting of the rabbis of Jerusalem with Chaim Weizmann demanding that the Zionist movement confine itself to the political field, but he refused Weizmann's offer that he undertake the conduct of religious affairs in the yishuv. When the Merkaz ha-Rav yeshivah was founded in Jerusalem by Kook, Harlap was invited to serve as head of the yeshivah and he continued in this post until his death. After the death of Rabbi Kook in 1935, many expected Harlap to be chosen as chief rabbi, and in any case he was later regarded by many as his natural successor. On the establishment of the State of Israel Harlap expressed orally and in writing his belief in "the beginning of the redemption"; at the same time he demanded an amelioration of religious standards. Harlap never left Erez Israel during his life and regarded it as a merit "that I never departed from holy confines and never [breathed] the air [or trod the] ground of the land of the gentiles."
Harlap's main halakhic work is Bet Zevul, comprising his halakhic discourses, novellae on the Talmud and on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, and halakhic responsa, in six parts, of which two were published in his lifetime (1942 and 1948) and the others between 1957 and 1966. His books on Jewish thought and religious meditation bear the general title Mei Merom. Seven volumes were published (1945ff.), among them a discussion of Maimonides' Shemonah Perakim, tractate Avot, the High Holidays, and repentance. The central idea of these works is the need to purify one's heart, and sanctify one's life. The aim of the Torah is the perfection of man in thought and in action, the penetration of "the light and spark of holiness that dwells within the people of Israel" into "the depth of the nation's soul which will bring about the redemption." Among his other works are: Hed ha-Ḥayyim ha-Yisre'eliyyim (1912); Tovim me-Orot (1920), a defense of A.I. Kook's Orot; El Am ha-Shem (1943), some of his sermons and articles; Imrei No'am (1947), "words of comfort, and encouragement to the people of Israel"; and Hed Harim (1953), a collection of his letters to A.I. Kook.
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