Harav David Yosef, shlita, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, issued an impassioned call Thursday evening during his weekly shiur, urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Yitzchak Herzog to publicly join U.S. President Donald Trump’s landmark “Shabbat 250” initiative; the first time in American history that a sitting president has called on the nation to observe Shabbos.

President Trump, in a proclamation signed on May 4 designating May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month, called on all Americans to observe a national Shabbos – dubbed “Shabbat 250” – from sundown on Friday, May 15, through nightfall on Saturday, May 16, in honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence.

“From sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great Nation,” the President wrote. “This day will recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty.” The Shabbos in question is Shabbos Bamidbar, the “Shabbos Kallah” preceding Shavuos.

Rav Yosef seized on the moment, drawing a connection between Trump’s call and the sacred character of the upcoming Shabbos. “I first and foremost expect and call upon the President of the State and the Prime Minister of the Jewish State to join the call of the President of the United States; at the very least here in Eretz Yisrael,” the Rav declared.

The Rav extended his call to Jews across the Diaspora, invoking the well-known ma’amar Chazal that if Klal Yisrael were to observe two Shabbosos, the Geulah would come immediately. “How important it is that we all unite around Shabbat Kodesh,” he said. “If a non-Jew honors our religion to such a degree and calls even non-Jews to rest on Shabbos — how much more so we, the Jews, who have the Torah, who have our mesorah, who have the precious gift called Shabbat Kodesh. How vital it is that everyone unite around shemirat Shabbat, and through this we will merit the complete Geulah speedily.”

Trump’s proclamation, which also invoked President George Washington’s celebrated 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport – in which Washington affirmed that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – paid tribute to the contributions of Jewish Americans since the country’s founding, citing among others Haym Salomon, the Revolutionary War-era financier who helped bankroll American independence. The initiative has drawn broad support across the frum community, with Agudas Yisroel of America calling “Shabbat 250” an opportunity to celebrate the religious liberty that America affords its Jewish citizens, and Chabad hailing it as a chance for Yidden to “unplug and connect with G-d, family, and community.”