Rabbanit Eliyahu: Don't Work on Shabbatot of Xmas and New Years to bring Mashiah

Life in Israel:

The upcoming Christian and secular holidays, Christmas and New Years, fall out on two consecutive Saturdays. I don't know how often that happens, and I doubt Torah Tidbits will give us the stats and the probabilities for such a sequence.

Rabanit Tzviya Eliyahu, the wife of Rav Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l, realized the opportunity this would present in the sense that on two consecutive Shabbos days Jews will not have a need to go to work. She saw the opportunity presented that it would therefore be easier to encourage people to keep shabbos, thus presenting the opportunity have all or most Jews keep two Shabbatot in a row thus guaranteeing the immediate arrival of Mashiach, as per the dictum of the Gemara.

She got a team together and they promoted their message in a number of countries. They say the response has been tremendous. Obviously not every Jew is going to keep Shabbos completely, but perhaps enough will, the one Jew who will tip the scales will be keeping Shabbos in some way, and Mashiach will come.

The Rabanit says that before her husband died he said that the time is ripe and all the conditions have already been met and all we need is just the one Jew who will tip the scales, and the redemption will be immediate. He said, everything happened already, including the war of Gog and Magog, and we have experienced everything we need to experience. We are ready.

Additionally, according to the YNet article, she said that people who are excited about this were calling her constantly, asking what is permitted and what is forbidden. Religious families will be hosting non-religious families to make it easier for them. She said that the chief rabbis of France and England told her that they will publicize this idea to their respective constituents.

She was asked, "So there is a situation that on Sunday in two weeks there will be Mashiah here?"

She answered, "Definitely.  According to our recruitment and the telephone calls that we're receiving, it's tangible.  I am working all the time on the one Jew who will tip the scales in our favor.  I see this happening.  It's enough to have one Jew raise himself up and in 2 weeks, we will all sit down and eat from the Shor Habar.

"When I read the news, I'm doing this in order to know how we are proceeding toward the Geula according to the prophets. Everything that happens here is connected to prophecies. We're not Meshichists, but we believe in the coming of Mashiah and we're expecting something good."

May her idea be successful.

Update: Arutz Sheva (Hebrew) has an article and an audio interview with the Rabbanit. Also, Rav Shemuel Eliyahu has an article there about the concept and about Shemirat Shabbat in general.
Update 2: Now in Arutz Sheva English.