The Tanakh (Hebrew: תַּנַ"ךְ‎, pronounced [taˈnaχ] or [təˈnax]; also Tenakh, Tenak, Tanach) is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh. The name "Miqra" (מקרא), meaning "that which is read", is an alternative Hebrew term for the Tanakh. The books of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) were relayed with an accompanying oral tradition passed on by each generation, called the Oral Torah.

According to the Talmud, much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the "Men of the Great Assembly" by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged. Modern scholars believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

The Hebrew text was originally an abjad: consonants written with some applied vowel letters ("matres lectionis"). During the early Middle Ages scholars known as the Masoretes created a single formalized system of vocalization. This was chiefly done by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, in the Tiberias school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh, hence the name Tiberian vocalization. It also included some of Ben Naftali and Babylonian innovations. Despite the comparatively late process of codification, some traditional sources and some Orthodox Jews believe the pronunciation and cantillation derive from the revelation at Sinai, since it is impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses.^{[citation needed]} The combination of a text (מקרא miqra), pronunciation (ניקוד niqqud) and cantillation (טעמים te`amim) enable the reader to understand both the simple meaning, as well as the nuances in sentence flow of the text.

Tovia Singer is a rabbi, and founder and director of Outreach Judaism.

Singer is the founder and director of Outreach Judaism, a Jewish counter-missionary organization. It describes itself as "an international organization that responds directly to the issues raised by missionaries and cults, by exploring Judaism in contradistinction to fundamentalist Christianity." Singer cautions regarding congregations that "are designed to appear Jewish, but are actually fundamentalist Christian churches, which use traditional Jewish symbols to lure the most vulnerable of our Jewish people into their ranks". Singer brought Guma Aguiar to Judaism; Aguiar was born to a Jewish mother, but raised as a Christian. Outreach Judaism was described by J. Gordon Melton in 2002 as an example of "the current state of Jewish counter-cult activity".

From 2002 to 2010 Singer hosted The Tovia Singer Show on Arutz Sheva's Israel National Radio. When Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ was released, Singer stated on his 25 September 2003 show that "by the time the first nail is hammered into the cross, viewers in Germany will be passing around knife sharpeners in the theater." Following the movie's debut, J. Shawn Landres and Michael Berenbaum wrote, "not only was [Singer's prediction] inappropriate but also proved itself entirely wrong, as Germany was the only country in which leaders of the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities cooperated to issue a joint statement criticizing The Passion."