ידי חיים – Meseches Sukkah 11b – Rebbe Eliezer says that the Posuk in Vayikra 23:43 “כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל” refers to the Ananei Hakovod. We sit in Sukkos because of the Ananei Hakovod that Klal Yisroel had to escort them through the Midbar. There were other miracles that occurred for Klal Yisroel in the Midbar, such as the Mon and the Be’er. Why isn’t there a remembrance for those miracles? Additionally, why do we need to have seven days of Yom Tov as a remembrance for the Ananei Hakovod? Wouldn’t one day have been enough? The purpose of the Ananei Hakovod that escorted Klal Yisroel through the Midbar when they left Mitzrayim was to purify them and cleanse them from the spiritual impurity that they had from Mitzrayim. They needed this to happen to them in order for them to be prepared for Ma’amad Har Sinai, which was like a Nevuah. Klal Yisroel needed to be on very high level of Ruchniyos in order to receive the Torah Hakdosha. The Zohar Hakodosh in Parshas Bereishis tells us that the purification which occurred to Klal Yisroel through the Ananei Hakovod was similar to the purification that occurs for the Tzaddikim from the smell that is in Gan Eden, and will be Le’asid Lavo, when Moshiach will come and eliminate all of the Zuhama, the spiritual impurity. Medrash Shocher Tov 23 – When Klal Yisroel were in the Midbar, the Ananei Hakovod cleaned their clothing, and certainly cleaned the spiritual impurity from them, in part by their not having the desire for food and drink, so that the Guf was able to be satisfied just from the ריח טוב, the pleasant smell. It was the Midah of הסתפקות, contentment, that we learned from the Ananei Hakovod, that we can be satisfied with what we have in Gashmiyos. It is something that is for a person for all the years of his life, for all generations. The Mon and the Be’er were just for that generation, that they were provided with sustenance, but the Ananei Hakovod was meant as a lesson for all future generations. This is why we don’t have a Zecher for the Mon and the Be’er, for they no longer apply to us. We have a Yom Tov for seven days, each day K’neged ten years of a person’s life. (10 is considered a full unit, and therefore we count in 1-‘s) for the lifetime of a person is seventy years (7 days times 10 years = 70 years), as it says in Tehillim 90:10 “ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה” – so that the Midah of הסתפקות should be ingrained within a person for all the days of his life.
Now we can understand why the Torah tells us that the Mitzvah of dwelling in a Sukkah is to remind us of the Sukkos we dwelled in when leaving Mitzrayim. What was the purpose in Hakodosh Boruch Hu taking Klal Yisroel out of Mitzrayim? It was so that Hakodosh Boruch Hu would give us the Torah Hakdosha. The first step in receiving the Torah is to have a desire to be with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to be connected to Him. The Ananei Hakovod cleansed Klal Yisroel’s clothing, but more importantly, it cleansed Klal Yisroel’s Neshomos. It purified them so that they would be worthy of receiving the Torah Hakdosha. The first step in the cleansing process was doing Teshuva and going through the Yomim Nora’im. We have passed that, and now we must connect ourselves to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. It is only if one is truly connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that he can have a true connection to the Torah. The Sukkah represents both Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah, and the way to be Zoche in both is through the Torah Hakdosha. We go out into the Sukkah and realize that this world is nothing more than a corridor to Olam Habah. We must focus on the Torah Hakdosha, and then we will be Zoche to have both this world and the next world. The culmination of the Yom Tov of Sukkos, is Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah, for that is the ultimate goal in this world – to be connected to the Torah, which is a connection to the Ribbono Shel Olam. May we be Zoche to recognize that we are sitting in the shade of the Ribbono Shel Olam, and that we must toil in the Torah so that we be Zoche to Olam Hazeh and Olam Habah.