The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, takes up a question about the Israelites' first stop after leaving Egypt: a place called Succoth. "And they traveled from Rameses to Succoth" (Exodus 12:37). But what was Succoth? The rabbis disagree about whether this was a literal place name or a description of what the Israelites built there.
Rabbi Eliezer argues that "succoth" should be understood literally — as "booths." The Israelites arrived at this location and constructed temporary shelters, just as their ancestor Jacob had done centuries earlier. The proof text comes from (Genesis 33:17): "And Jacob traveled to Succoth, and for his cattle he made succoth (booths), for which reason the place was named Succoth."
Rabbi Eliezer's reading creates a powerful parallel between Jacob and his descendants. When Jacob fled from his brother Esau and settled temporarily at Succoth, he built booths for his livestock. Generations later, when Jacob's descendants fled from Egypt, they arrived at the same kind of place and did the same thing — erected temporary structures for shelter.
The name Succoth thus carries a family memory. It connects the Exodus to the patriarchal period, linking the national liberation to the personal journey of Jacob himself. The first act of the newly freed Israelites — building booths — echoed what their forefather had done when he too was a refugee seeking safety. Freedom began, as it had for Jacob, with the simplest form of shelter.