154 Megillah 2/1-4

(1) Any one who reads the Megillah in an irregular manner, does not acquit himself of his obligation; nor in case he reads it by heart, or translated in any language he does not understand; but it is lawful to read it to those who understand foreign languages, 1 in that foreign language. One who speaks a foreign language, who has it read to him in Hebrew, will be released from his obligation.

(2) Should any person read it so as to make long pauses between the parts, and slumber meanwhile, he will be released from his obligation. If any one should read the Megillah whilst writing, expounding, or correcting it, with intention of thereby becoming released from his obligation, he will have fulfilled it, but not if he had no such intention. If the Megillah was written with paint, ruddle, gum, vitriol black, on papyrus, or on rough vellum, the obligation is not properly fulfilled; but it must be written in Hebrew characters, on good parchment, and with ink.

(3) If an inhabitant of an [open] town had gone to an [anciently] walled town, or one of [an anciently] walled town had gone to an [open] town; if he intend to return [when the Megillah is read] to his place, he shall read it at the same time they read it in his place; if not, he shall read it with the inhabitants of the place in which he then is. From when is it necessary to have commenced the reading of the Megillah, so as to have duly fulfilled the obligation? R. Meir says, "It is obligatory to read the whole thing." Rabbi Yehudah says, "It suffices if he commenced from the verse Ish Yehudi‎ (Esther 2:5)." Rabbi Yose says, "[Even if] from ‏the verse Achar Hedevarim Haeleh (Esther 3)."

(4) All are qualified to read the Megillah, with the exception of a deaf-mute, a shoteh, or a minor; but Rabbi Yehudah allows it to be said by a minor. The following religious acts may not be done before sun-rise on the day on which they are obligatory, viz.:—To read the Megillah, to circumcise, to bathe [on the seventh day of the purification of an unclean or defiled person], to sprinkle [the unclean as a purification]; nor may a woman [who had experienced her menses beyond the usual time, and who was to] wait a day [before she might bathe] do so before the sun-rise of that day. But if any of these acts have been done at any period after day-break, they are valid.