This year I started reading a new Torah. I thought I had a pretty good grip of the basics of the five books of the Torah, but as we started the new cycle of Torah reading for the Jewish calendar year of 5784, I was struck by how much I had missed. It happened because I embarked on a new project—learning Tanach from beginning to end, one perek a day.
The Tanach Yomi project, which follows the cycle of Nach Yomi established by the OU, takes the learner through all of Nevi'im and Kesuvim—the Prophets and Writings—one chapter at a time. As I began recording audio summaries for each perek, I discovered connections between Torah and Nach that I had never noticed before.
When you learn Torah in isolation, you miss half the story. The Torah gives us the law; Nach shows us how it plays out in real life. The Torah introduces the covenant; Nach shows what happens when it is kept and when it is broken. The Torah describes the ideal; Nach describes the real.
For example, when the Torah describes the laws of monarchy in Devarim, it is theoretical. But when you read Shmuel and Melachim, you see those laws tested by real kings—some who upheld them and many who did not. The Torah's warning that a king should not accumulate horses, wives, or wealth becomes painfully concrete when you read about Shlomo HaMelech.
Similarly, the Torah's promise that faithfulness to the covenant will bring blessing and unfaithfulness will bring exile becomes vivid and tragic when you read Yirmiyahu's lament over the destruction of Yerushalayim.
This year, I discovered that Torah and Nach are not separate books—they are one continuous story. And learning them together transforms both. The Torah gains depth and relevance; Nach gains context and meaning.
I encourage everyone to join the Tanach Yomi cycle. It takes just 10 minutes a day. And it will open your eyes to a Torah you never knew you had.