An unprecedentedly harsh letter, signed by the great rabbis of the Yemenite community, was published today (Thursday) against the Gaon Rabbi Avraham Yosef, after he called the Yemenites "ignorant" - and this only because they continue to adhere to the customs of their ancestors, which are founded on the Rishonim, the Gaonim, and the Maimonides.
Want to pay in cash? Everything you need to know about the new restrictions
In his program on Radio Kol Chai, Rabbi Yosef expressed himself in harsh words when he explained and clarified the origin of the custom of not eating meat and poultry during the nine days: "There is no one who will break through the fence, no one who will move away from the custom, and say, 'We did not practice it.'"
Regarding the custom of Yemenite Jews to eat meat during the nine days, he said: "Unfortunately, there are groups of Yemenites in the country who are ignorant."
Rabbi Avraham Yosef emphasized that he calls some Yemenites 'ignorant' because "they are not willing to accept the opinion of the majority, they are willing to do everything to preserve the customs of their ancestors. And truly, if they were planning to return to Yemen - please let them eat meat. I don't know a single Yemenite who wants to return to Yemen. They came to the country with the goal of staying in the country. So what reason is there to be light-hearted about mourning on Tisha B'Av. And does Tisha B'Av belong to all communities except the Yemenites? What are they not in all of Israel? God forbid. Therefore, they need to be taught the moral of being part of the people of Israel, being among those who mourn over Jerusalem and not eating meat during the nine days like all of Israel."
His words, as expected, caused a stir in the Yemenite communities, who are already dissatisfied with the Sephardim's treatment of them - and the protest of the rabbis of the Yemenite community was not long in coming.
In a sharp letter of protest, signed by 18 of the community's leading rabbis, they protest the disdain and insult: "The land shook and even the heavens dripped because of the blasphemous words that were heard by many, of the denigration of a complete holy community of Israel, the Yemenite community that adorns itself, from the mouth of one of the sons of Joseph, namely Abraham, who does not love me, who arrogantly says, 'I will reign, I will educate,' in his sincerity, those who follow the Yemenite tradition and the law of the Talmud and the sages, etc., as 'ignorant.'"
[gallery]
"And we cannot see it as a way to swallow the sacred to denigrate a holy community. Who gave the great ancestors of ours, according to whom they will camp and according to whom all of our communities will travel, the glorious holy community of Yemen throughout the generations, and despite the fact that it was right not to respond from the perspective of Al Ta'an, etc., if we do not protest vigorously, they will say, "May God bless the rabbis, and lest we be caught, God forbid." This is not the time to whisper.
"We call on him to return and publicly apologize for his arrogant words that came out of his mouth without knowledge, knowledge that you have acquired is lacking. And especially in these days of the days of the Egyptians, when we mourn the destruction of the house that was destroyed through the sin of gratuitous hatred!"
"And we wrote all this out of tears and pain, about the path of Rabbi Avraham Yosef, which leads to fanaticism and controversy, and our hope is that the things we wrote will bring about a change for the better, and if the sages understand this, then this will be our reward."
One of the leading rabbis added: "For 130 years now, the Sephardim have been trying to impose themselves on us and dictate to us. When will they realize that we are not Sephardim, we are Yemenites!"
English 
Hebrew