Tanakh is Torah, Prophets, Writings
Writings are Inspired by God
Writings don’t receive the reverence and respect accorded to Torah or Haftorah.
A non-Jew attending synagogue five times a year will notice that we gather our congregation to listen to the reading of a book. The reading of this book occurs outside of the context of the Torah service. Four out of five times no blessing will be recited either before the reading or thereafter, in contrast to both Torah and Haftorah where blessings are recited both before and after. Four out of five times, that book will be read from a bound book (or a piece of paper) but not from a scroll.
Writings Timeline
Writings start with Chronicles. Chronicles starts with the first human being, Adam. It tells the genealogy and history in 10 chapters leading to the Kingdom of David. Kings II starts with the rule of King Solomon son of David. In ten more chapters, it reaches the division of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The five scrolls belong to the Writings category. The Writings are Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra / Nehemiah. The Five Scrolls are Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. The Five Scrolls are read on Jewish appointed times such as holidays: Passover, Shavuot, Tisha B’av, Sukkot, and Purim, respectively.
The Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts, Torah (Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses), Prophets, and Writings. The term acronym is the name for a word from the first letters of each word in a series of words (such as sonar, created from sound navigation and ranging). The word Tanakh is an acronym composed from the Hebrew names of each of the three parts: Torah, Nevi’im (Prophets) and Khetuvim (Writings).
Five Scrolls are Writings
The five scrolls which are part of the Writings. The process of selection of which books are included in the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) and the order in which they are bound is a process known as canonization. There was a vibrant debate among the Rabbis which of the Writings and Prophets to canonize and which to leave as external books. Rabbi Akiva argued that Song of Songs (one of the five scrolls and from Writings) is absolutely sacred. The scroll of Ester is read from parchment with blessings before and afterwards. However, the blessings are not due to its presence in the five scrolls, but rather to it’s ritual significance in the holiday of Purim.
Conclusion, the Text of the Torah, Prophets, and Writings, have a level of religious significance and holiness. However, the chapter numbers and book numbers (that reflect their order in the canon) are comparatively arbitrary. Our order of the books derives from discussions among the Sages, thus we are limited in what we can learn from the ordering.