Sukkot is confusing. Why are we sitting in huts commemorating the Exodus when we know this miracle happened in the spring?
No, the Rabbis did not get the weather forecast wrong. In fact, they got the weather forecast right. While many other people go out into nature to pitch tents in the springs, Sukkot is placed in the fall to remind us that we are not just simply building tents. Rather, this mitzvah has a heavenly purpose.
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky teaches that we have a responsibility to know why we sit in a sukkah.
Growing up on the east coast, it was clear—on cold snowy sukkot nights, sitting outside must have a higher purpose. When I moved to the west coast and I observed sukkot filled with air conditioners, I felt the same way. These were no ordinary tents; they had a purpose.
The Exodus is our crowning narrative. We must not forget. And we do not. Miraculously, thousands of years later and all over the world, that tradition continues, building these tents in whatever climate conditions we are given to remember that our ancestors did the same on their way to the Promised Land.
