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The Pasuk in Parashat Emor says למען֘ ידע֣ו דרֽתיכם֒ כ֣י בסכ֗ות הוש֙בתי֙ את ־בנ֣י ישרא֔ל
(VaYikrah 23:43). We bring this Pasuk as the reason for
why we sit in the Sukkah, to remember the Ananei
HaKavod that Hashem shielded us with in the Midbar.
In his sefer חשבון למצוא, Rav Aharon Pessin asks a
brilliant question. If the Pasuk previously stated is
speaking about Yetziat Mitzrayim, why do we celebrate
Sukkot on the fifteenth of Tishrei as opposed to in the
month of Nissan, which is when Yetziat Mitzrayim
actually occurred?!
Rav Pessin quotes the Vilna Gaon to answer this
question. After the sin of the Egel HaZahav, the Ananei
HaKavod left Bnei Yisrael until they built the Mishkan. He
then brings a calculation to prove this. On Yom Kippur
(the tenth of Tishrei) Moshe Rabbeinu came down from
Har Sinai with the second set of Luchot. On the next day
(the eleventh) Moshe gathered Bnei Yisrael and
commanded them to put up the Mishkan. On both the
twelfth and thirteenth of Tishrei people brought their
donations for the construction of the Mishkan. On the
fourteenth of Tishrei the craftsmen took the gold from
Moshe and started to work with it. Finally, on the
fifteenth of Tishrei the Ananei HaKavod returned to Bnei
Yisrael. Thus we see that we celebrate Sukkot on the
fifteenth of Tishrei as a remembrance of the return of the
Ananei HaKavod to Bnei Yisrael.
Chag Sameach!