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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!