jent, i hear your point, loud and clear, and actually understand everything you wrote.
I wasnt saying that we pasken based on what the sfardi rav said, but I was trying to figure out how it can be that people wear their tzitzis inside and still fulfill ur’isem. I lready got my answer (see above post), but i thought that since this was said over in the name of the sefardi tzaddik, there MUST be a svara that its okay. see the difference?
I hear that its strange being that its the bais yosef who says it. maybe the sfardi chacham in your shul can shed some light. I did not quote him exactly because it was something I read in hamodia more than 7 years ago, so I’m sorry if the loshon doesnt sound Eidel. But the point it expressed stuck in my mind.
In any case, your last point I dont think proves anything, because many frum sefardim took on the levush of the ashkenazim. The black hat, dark kapote…all come from the european style of dress. If you look at the old pictures of sefardi Chachamim, they dont dress that way anymore. (Amnon Yitzchak makes a point of this by dressing in traditional yemenite garb)