I too have held out on posting here because my opinion is that this should not be a public thread at all.
However, HaKatan’s post pushed me over the edge.
“IF the rumors I’ve read are true, I do NOT believe that there is any mikor in our holy Torah for these practices, and therefore these “chumros” are misguided and wrong and there is NO basis to say “that’s their mesorah and it’s okay”. Far from it, in fact.”
I have no idea what you heard or didn’t hear. But it doesn’t matter. The above statement implies that you are better positioned to judge what is a misguided chumrah and what is not than the Admorim of Ger.
The Beis Yisroel zy”a was a gadol, a kadosh and a tahor according to anyone’s opinion. Yes, the Steipler’s, too. Gedolei olam disagree all the time. This is not a chiddush. Besides which, it is not at all clear that the much-touted letter the Steipler wrote – IF he wrote it (there are serious claims that he did not) – was ever intended for the public’s eyes. It was written to an individual.
What should be clear to all of us is that we should back off when dealing with chumros, hanhagos, minhagim etc. enacted by Gedolei Yisroel, and we certainly should not be mocking, denigrating, or sneering, much of which has unfortunately been done on this thread.