Year 5314 was a devastating year in Italy. Hundreds of thousands of sefarim were burned (similar to the gezeirah that occurred in Paris, approximately year 5004). The decree began in Rome, and then other cities followed. To annul this decree, the Ramchal zt'l established a plan that Torah should always be studied in his beis medresh, and the scholars' intentions should be to annul the harsh decrees from Bnei Yisrael.
The plan is written in a letter, quoted in Otzros Ramchal (p.349).
"The counsel for the Jewish community in Italy that they should be saved from this decree that their enemies established is certainly that they should be cautious with the following counsel, and they shouldn't be lenient because it is a wonderful solution to save them from the gezeirah. We chose seven talmidei chachamim who have designated themselves for this mission, that between them, there will always be Torah studied, day and night, without stop. Together, they accepted on themselves that their learning should be for the rectification of all Yidden. In this manner, we are all like one person; they won't be studying for themselves but for all of Yisrael.
"They begin after Shacharis. One person chooses a spot to study and studies there until the second person comes to take his place. This second person will take the same type of sefer and continue from where the first one had reached. And he will learn until the third person comes. The third person will take a sefer and continue from where the second person left off. They continue with this pattern until the stars come out at night. They do so every day. As they learn, they consider themselves as though they are davening Shemonah esrei, so they won't stop or interrupt their learning. Additionally, the first person won't stop learning before the next person begins to study. In this manner, there isn't a moment without Torah study. We know that Hashem chose this to annul all harsh decrees, particularly to be a protecting wall in regards to this harsh decree, chas v'shalom."
He recommends in this letter that others copy this plan and implement it in their communities.
We quote this Ramchal here primarily for the line, "As they learn, they consider themselves as though they are davening Shemonah Esrei, and therefore, they won't stop or interrupt their learning." This is what people should do when they designate time for learning Torah. They should feel that they are in the middle of Shemonah Esrei and can't speak.
Furthermore, just as one wouldn't consider missing one of the three Shemonah Esreis of the day, so, too, one shouldn't consider missing the time he set for Torah study.
