In recent times, the great Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein has often encouraged and emphasized the observance of Shabbat and the study of its laws as a virtue and salvation in times of war, and even often recites with longing the piyyut of the Ibn Ezra, "For if I keep Shabbat, it is easy for Him to keep me.".
A special story was published in the 'Shiach Yitzchak' line from the rabbi's teachings, in the section 'Bedidi HaVeh Ovada', where recordings of his students with special stories from the first time are uploaded. In the recording, Rabbi Yaakov Ben Saruk, his student from the 'Beit David' kollel in Holon, told the following story:
""For many years I have had the privilege of driving the rabbi, especially on Mondays, to a class he teaches in Bnei Brak. Last Monday, something interesting happened. As we were about to leave Holon for the intercity highway, I noticed that the gas light was flashing, meaning that it was highly doubtful that we would be able to reach Bnei Brak. The only option was to pull into a gas station, which unfortunately for the rabbi, like most gas stations in secular cities, is open on Shabbat.
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""I stopped the car and asked the rabbi what we were doing. The rabbi asked me: 'Will we get to Bnei Brak?' I told him: 'It is highly doubtful that we will get to Bnei Brak...' So the rabbi replied: 'We don't count on a miracle, what is more, you have to go in, but I don't have to go in, and it would be blasphemy against God if they saw an ultra-Orthodox rabbi go into a gas station of Sabbath breakers, so please drop me off here in the middle of the road, and I will stand on the road (late in the evening, in the winter cold), you go to fill up with gas and I will wait here.
""I tried to convince him that in the back of the car, where the rabbi is sitting, you don't see the rabbi that much, because there are dark windows, and maybe it wouldn't be blasphemy if they saw the rabbi. And indeed, after much persuasion, the rabbi agreed, but he told me: 'Go to the farthest gas station, and fill up exactly as much as you need to get to Bnei Brak, and you will accept a complete commitment that next time you will only fill up with gas at Sabbath-keeping stations.'".
""When we entered the station, I reminded the rabbi of an interesting thing that happened exactly ten years ago: The rabbi arrived at this station, which had a large sign in white Kiddush letters, 'Open on Shabbat.' The rabbi arrived with all thirty of the kollel's students, and entered the director's office and said to him: 'This sign here burns my heart. I pass by here every day, and it burns my heart. I ask you to please remove the sign. Even if you can't close it on Shabbat, at least remove this sign.'.
""Of course, anyone who fears God hears his words, and after a few days the sign was removed to this day. So I told the rabbi - it was that gas station. The rabbi said to me: 'If so, it's a sign that this Jew, God forbid, doesn't do it to make people angry, he simply has a lust for money, which is why he opens on Shabbat. I was very sad. Although the sadness didn't go away, my sadness decreased a little from what we did today' (we filled up at a station that desecrates Shabbat). But the rabbi added: 'We both need atonement for desecrating Shabbat. Let's strengthen ourselves in the laws of Shabbat, let's take it upon ourselves not to fill up at a gas station that desecrates Shabbat, only at a gas station owned by Shabbat-observants, and thanks to the right of Shabbat, all the people of Israel will be preserved, amen and amen.".
