When the Sages established the order of the weekly Torah readings, the subject matter of the parshiyot did not necessarily correspond to the season and the cycle of the Jewish holidays. One of the few exceptions is Parshat Ki Tavo. In Gemara Megillah 31b, there is an insistence on reading Ki Tavo before Rosh HaShana, the beginning of the New Year. The reason given is “tikhle hashana v’kileloteha,” “may the year and its curses end.” This phrase expresses a very human desire to leave the difficulties and misfortunes of the previous year behind and begin the new year with a clean slate. But the Gemara is making a much more literal reference: the “curses” are the klalot that appear at the end of Parshat Ki Tavo. The curses are terrible, accusatory, and awe-inspiring.

The curses and the warnings which were uttered by Moshe Rabbeinu are not original: the text of the curses was already written down previously, in Parshat Bechukotai. The question must be: What is gained by repeating such curses?

The answer lies in the close reading of the text, and in considering the timing when the klalot were uttered. The original set, first uttered in Bechukotai, is the language of G-d addressing the generation that left Egypt. The text in Ki Tavo is spoken by Moshe, and is a renewal of the covenant, which was originally told to the children of the previous generation.The two sets of curses may sound similar, but they are tailored to two very different audiences. A closer look at the language and the structure of each set yields significant distinctions.

The original set addresses the entire congregation in the plural. Ki Tavo, in contrast, addresses the individual using singular language. But the differences do not end there—Ki Tavo has many more klalot than Bechukotai, double the number of the original list.

The Torah, which utilizes an economy of language, does not waste space on needless repetition, which begs the question: what is Moshe trying to achieve by doubling the number of curses?

According to Kli Yakar, R. Shelomo Ephraim Luntschitz, (Poland, 17th century), the timing of the blessings and the curses holds the key to resolving the dilemmas mentioned above. In Bechukotai, the Jewish people were treated as one large collective entity. The blessing was communal, and so was the curse. Consequently, an individual who sins does not have power to bring the punishment upon the rest of the congregation. Two examples come to mind: the wood gatherer who violated Shabbat and the blasphemer who cursed G-d both incurred a death penalty, yet the rest of the congregation was not punished for the actions of the individuals.

Ki Tavo introduces a different model. The blessings and the curses come on the heels of the Jewish nation standing on the mountains of Gerizim and Eval and participating in arevut: a mutual pledge. After the Jews have accepted upon themselves the responsibility for their fellow Jews, the section listing the blessings and the curses is stated in the singular. This shift specifically highlights that the transgressions of one individual affect the community. Once the model of arevut is accepted by the Jewish people, no one can claim that his behavior is purely private.

According to Kli Yakar, the doubling of the curses is a representation of how an individual is responsible for bringing troubles not only upon himself, but also upon the community. This can be dramatically demonstrated at the conquest of Ai in the book of Yehoshua: when Achan displays greed and takes spoils for himself, contrary to explicit instructions, it does not remain a private matter. The whole community suffers a loss of fighters. Their death is an alarm and a cause for Yehoshua to probe and seek an individual who is adversely affecting the collective.

The Talmud (Shevuot 39A) states that “Kol Yisrael arevim ze ba’ze”—”all Jews are responsible for one another.” Usually, this principle is employed to emphasize how interconnected Jews are, and how one person doing mitzvot can affect others, or can be a messenger in saying the blessings on behalf of others. Kli Yakar shows us the flipside of arevut: when one Jew behaves unethically or sinfully, everyone is affected and everyone suffers.

This brings us to a reason why Ki Tavo is read publicly before Rosh HaShana: each and every Jew needs a wake-up call, a reminder that the actions of the individual affect the entire kehilla. “tikhle hashana v’kileloteha” is no longer a nice sentiment and an attempt to leave the past in the past. It is, rather, a call for action: in order for the curses of the passing year to end, each and every person needs to engage in earnest soul-searching and self-improvement. Only once the deep inner recesses of the heart have been examined, the conclusion of the piyut Achot Ketana, “tachel shana ubirkhoteha” “May the year and its blessings commence,” comes into force. The curses end when we recognize that what each of us does matters to all of us.