Torah refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, while Tanach is an acronym that encompasses the Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings) which together make up the Hebrew Bible. Unlike the Torah which is read sequentially, the Haftarah portion from Nevi'im that is read is chosen by Rabbis to relate to that week's Torah reading. While all of the Torah is contained within the Tanach, not all parts of the Tanach are contained within the Torah alone.
2. What is the difference between
Torah and Tanach? The word Bible
(from the Greek, Biblia) means The
Book (or books!). Actually, as we
will see in topic D, the Bible is actually a
library of books. Surprisingly, there is no
word for 'Bible' as such in Hebrew!
Tanach is actually an acronym, (like SCUBA who knows what SCUBA
stands for? or RADAR), that stands for Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and
Ketuvim (Writings). After the Torah reading, a small portion from
'Nevi'im' is read, called the Haftarah. Unlike the Torah portions that are
read sequentially, the Haftarah is a passage chosen by the Rabbis (of the
Talmud) that in some way relates to the Torah reading.There is a word,
Mikra, (from Reading) that would be like the English word: Scripture
(from Writing), that has the sense of 'Holy Writ.'So, to summarize: All of
the Torah is in the Tanach (or Bible) but not all of the Tanach is in the
Torah. To give some examples: The books of Isaiah, Psalms or Esther
are in the Bible, but not in the Torah!