I do not agree with some of the responses to my opinion, but I respect your right to express them. Just because I respect a Rov, does not mean I have to agree with something condescending that he says in response to a legitimate shailah, especially if I did not ask him a shailah. If every Rov asked a shailah by a girl were to answer as blatatly flippantly as did R’ Shach ZT”L, they would be far less likily to EVER ask that rov any shailahs in the future. If you do not “get” that, then let me assure you that you are remiss in your own thinking. I see women on a regular basis who are going to the mikvah well after the proper time that they may go, because they are intimidated from asking a shailah, because their rov gave them a flippant or annoyed response in the past. Telling a Yeshivah girl that she should be learning how to bake cookies, when in fact she wants to know the answer to a question that was SO clever that her seminary teacher could not answer it, is not the way to handle such a situation. I merely commented that Hillel who was asked truly irritating and stupid questions by a leitz, had the seichel, the sensitivity, and the menschlechkeit to actually answer the questions that were posed, without making the leitz feel stupid. I am sure that leitz had greater respect fro Hille after that encounter, whreas these seminary girls were made to feel really inconsequential. Even a Gadol Hador can make a judgment call that upon greater reflection and with the understanding of how his response might be negatively perceived, might think twice before issuing such a cavalier remark to ANYONE.
We all have bad days, we all make offhand remarks, sometimes (we think) in jest, but SOMEONE takes that remark to heart. Have you any idea how many frum kids are turned off by teachers who speak to them the same way as did R’ Shach? If you were a Yeshivah boy and asked what you thought was a good shailah, would you want to be shot down by your rov? And apparently the shailah was a good one, not a stupid question. And btw, maybe those girls were ALL good bakers. They just wanted a better understanding of a TANACH problem. “That is a Gadol. Put on the spot by some “punk” (for lack of a better term) girls, he knows the Yerushalmi & gives a similar answer on the spot! ” Gavra, without knowing exactly what transpired, neither you nor I can assume the Gadol was “put on the spot” by a punk or anyone else, and it hotzaas shem ra for you to refer to a seminary girl in that way. Their won teacher admitted not knowing the anser, and they had a right to expec that the rov whose aitzah they sought would treat their question with seriousness, and not as something irrelevant because they were GIRLS. What if boys would have asked him that same question?