Kids Question, Ki Savo 2025

Question

Why are we careful to always read Ki Savo before Rosh Hashana? What other parsha has a similar time rule for a similar reason?

Answer

Parshas Ki Savo is home to the curses Moshe Rabeinu said to the Jews if they wouldn't follow Hashem and his mitzvos. Those curses describe the immense suffering and punishment Hashem would chas v'shalom bring on us. I don't just mean, "if you don't listen, Hashem will punish you." The Torah describes great calamities that will befall us. Consider for example

ידבק ד' בך את הדבר עד כלתו אתך מעל האדמה אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה

Hashem will cast a plague upon you until you perish from the land that you had come to inherit

 Devarim 28:21

Or

והיתה נבלתך למאכל לכל עוף השמים ולבהמת הארץ

Your corpse shall become food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the field

Devarim 28:26

These curses serve a critical purpose for a Jew. They remind us that Hashem created a world filled with שכר / schar (reward) and עונש / onesh (punishment). We have an obligation in this world. When we don't keep it, Hashem punishes us. But he doesn't punish us because he's angry or wants to see us suffer. He does it to teach us.

וידעת עם לבבך כי כאשר ייסר איש את בנו ד' אלקיך מיסרך

For you know in your heart that the same way a man punishes his son, thus does Hashem your Gd punish you

Devarim 8:5

In fact, we know that in the end, our true teshuva, our complete teshuva, will come from these curses. 

והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה הברכה והקללה וכו' ושבת עד ד' אלקיך ושמעת בקלו

And when all of these things happen to you, the blessing and the curse..., you shall return to Hashem your Gd and you shall listen to his voice

Devarim 30:1

The curses might have a positive effect. That doesn't make them less terrifying. Chaza"l recognized the fear they create in a person and offered us a remedy. We're careful to read parshas Ki Savo before Rosh Hashanah every year. That way Rosh Hashanah will come and we can say "those curses were all for last year; it's a new year now and it will be filled with bracha!"

This is actually one of many minhagim klal yisroel follow to seemingly lessen the impact of the curses. We don't call anyone up by name for the aliyah with the curses. We read them in a quieter voice. We read extra verses before and after the curses. Every one of these minhagim reinforces how much we fear the curses, and in turn, how much we fear Hashem.

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