I am sorry you feel that way. Even gedolim make mistakes. That does not take away from their being gedolim. To think that they are incapable of making a bad choice in their reaction to a shailah, is elevating them to a level that only Hashem deserves. My opinion stands that IN THIS ONE SPECIFIC INSTANCE, I believe R’ Shach Z”TL answered a legitimate question with a singularly offhanded response, and the girls deserved better treatment than that, if only by virtue of the fact that the shailah was asked with the desire to know the emes. What he did, unfortunately diminished the chashivus in their own eyes, both of the shailah that they asked, and of asking shailahs of any rov, who might similarly make them feel stupid someday. If you truly do NOT understand that very serious point, then unfortunately I cannot make it any clearer. I am sorry that you seem to feel I have little respect for Gedolim. That is simply not true. I have little respect for ANYONE, Gadol, tzaddik, poshut person, am haaretz, Gaon, rasha, ANYONE AT ALL, who treats someone else’s sincere desire to know the answer to something, as a joke, and be patronizing and condescending to them. It does not befit a Gadol whom we regard as the arbiter and role model of menschlechkeit, to even HINT at acting in a way that can be interpreted as hurtful to someone, especially to impressionable young women. If your own daughter would be treated that way, I would hope you would be more compassionate for her sake.
I am moichel you for the attack, because I believe you are sincerely defending the honor of the Gadol. I knew a woman who had a shailah and the rov gave her a quick and short p’sak (assur) because he was annoyed with her. The next day he realized he had done a terrible thing and called the woman to apologize for being short-tempered with her and changed his p’sak (to the correct one). Now THAT is a sign of Gadlus. Agree or disagree, a rov has a greater achrayus than the rest of us to choose his words carefully when someone wants to learn. To tell a Seminary girl she basically only needs to learn how be a good cook, and her inquisitive mind doesn’t need to be nurtured, is wrong, no matter who implies it. How much more so when the person doing the insulting is a rov of such stature. I will not further engage in this particular line of discussion, as it is truly not productive to do so. I stated my feelings, you stated yours – neither of us will change our opinions. Infallibility of one’s religious leaders is a Christian, not Jewish concept.