Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah, also pronounced Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchosoh, ( translation: "keeping Shabbat according to its law") is a book of halachah authored by Rabbi Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth, which discusses the laws of Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

 and Yom Tov, and is viewed by many as an authoritative work regarding these laws. Rabbi Neuwirth is a prominent student of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Shlomo Zalman Auerbach

Shlomo Zalman Auerbach , was a renowned Orthodox Jewish rabbi, posek, and rosh yeshiva of the Kol Torah yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel...

, and the book generally follows Rabbi Auerbach's opinions. The book discusses practical situations such as driving to a hospital on Shabbat in an emergency

Driving on Shabbat

According to Jewish law, the operation of a motor vehicle constitutes multiple violations of the prohibited activities on Shabbat. Though Jewish law is based on texts that existed long before the existence of the automobile, various writings prohibit during Shabbat the actions that take place as a...

.

The book rules in accordance with Rabbi Moses Isserles

Moses Isserles

Moses Isserles, also spelled Moshe Isserlis, , was an eminent Ashkenazic rabbi, talmudist, and posek, renowned for his fundamental work of Halakha , entitled ha-Mapah , an inline commentary on the Shulkhan Aruch...

 (the Rema), i.e. according to the practice of Ashkenazic Jews. Because the book is popular and Sephardic Jews wish to use it also, Rabbi Yehuda Lavi Ben-David wrote a commentary of notes called Badey Hashulchan ( translation: "Poles of the table") which delineates the opinions of Sephardic poskim

Posek

Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....

.

Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah has been translated to English and is published by Feldheim

Feldheim

Feldheim Publishers is an American Orthodox Jewish Judaica publisher. It is headquartered in New York.Feldheim Publishers was founded in 1939 by Phillip Feldheim.-List of famous Feldheim books:*The 39 Melochos*All For the Boss...

.

Volumes

Two volumes came out:

1. The original volume; discusses which acts are permitted or prohibited to do on Shabbat. (שמור את יום השבת - Guard the Shabbat day)
2. Published many years later; discusses the halachot of Kiddush
   Kiddush
   Kiddush , literally, "sanctification," is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays.-Significance:...
   
    and davening (prayer) of Shabbat. (זכור את יום השבת לקדשו - Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it)

Controversy

The book has been published in two different versions. After the first version was published, Rabbi Neuwirth was pressured to change many of his rulings, so in the second version many stringencies (chumrahs) were added, and the footnotes stated that there was an alternative lenient opinion. Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky

Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky

Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, known as The Steipler or The Steipler Gaon , was a rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and posek .-Biography:...

 attacked the book in a sharply worded footnote in his book Chayei Olam, and some other rabbis from the Lithuanian tradition supported him. However, the prominent Gedolim who wrote glowing Haskamos (letters of approbation) to the book presumably disagreed. Besides for Rabbi Auerbach, these include Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky

Yehezkel Abramsky

Yehezkel Abramsky , also affectionately referred to as 'Reb Chatzkel Abramsky', was a prominent and influential Orthodox rabbi and scholar, born and raised in Russia who later headed the London Beth Din for 17 years....

, Rav Moshe Feinstein

Moshe Feinstein

Moshe Feinstein was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek , who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America during his lifetime...

, Rabbi Yosef Breuer

Joseph Breuer

Joseph Breuer was a rabbi and community leader in Germany and the United States. He was a Rabbi of one of the large Jewish synagogues founded by German-Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi oppression that had settled in Washington Heights, New York....

, and Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg

Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg

Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg was a noted European Orthodox rabbi, posek and rosh yeshiva. He is best known as author of the work of responsa Seridei Eish....

. Moreover, in 1993, about two years before his death, Rabbi Auerbach published a collection of footnotes and corrections to Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah, thus further strengthening its stature as an accepted work of halakhic decision-making.