Just a few Halachot regarding Megilat Esther. First of all there is a Machloket amongst the Geonim if it is permissible to handle the Megilah without using a cloth or a ‘Mitpachat’. For example, we know the Halacha by the Sefer Torah is that you are not supposed to roll it bare handed. You are supposed to always use a Mitpachat (cloth). So there is a Machloket if the same applies to Megilat Esther or not. Chacham Ovadia says the proper thing would be to wash your hands without a Beracha before you handle the Megilah and then already you have room to be lenient to handle it bare handed.
The next question we discuss is if G-d forbid a Megilah fell. Do we treat it like a Sefer Torah? Halacha says NO. You do not have to fast in the event your Megilah fell to the floor. But it would be proper to be give money to Tzedaka in place of fasting. You would pay the amount of money equal in value to the amount of food you would eat in day. It might come to about twenty dollars, and you would give the money as Pidyon of the Megilah that fell.
Regarding hearing the words of the Megilah. It’s the opinion of the Rashba (1235-1310) that you must hear every word of the Megilah in order to fulfill the Mitzvah. So therefore the reader and both the listener have to pay attention very closely as to catch all the words. It is thus proper for everybody to buy for themselves a kosher Megilah, in order that just in case they don’t hear a word or they miss a word, they would be able to read it from their own Megilah that they are sitting with and have in front of them. Halacha does say that it is also OK if you are listening while holding a Chumash, and you didn’t a hear word. As long as you read it in the Chumash or Megilah it is OK. A Chumash is permissible, but Lechatchila, it would be best to read it from a Kosher Megilah. Certainly the Hazan MUST read it from a Kosher Megilah.
The last Halacha is regarding the writing of the Megilah. There is a little more flexibility when it comes to mistakes in the Megilah than a Sefer Torah itself. Halacha writes that if for example there’s an extra letter or a missing letter in the Megilah, nevertheless it still is considered Kosher. We don’t Posel (render unusable) the Megilah because of mistakes. Chacham Ovadia in Yibiee HaOmer, Chelek 9 goes even further and says it is Kosher even if the mistake changes the context of the Megilah. Meaning as example, if there is a mistake that changes the tense from present to past, this would change the context, however, the Megilah still would be Kosher. So long as the Baal Kore, the one who is reading reads the words the right way. Now he obviously he is going to read by heart because it is not written in the Megilah, and Bediavad, that is OK.
Lechatchila, if a person is going to read for the Tzibur (congregation), he should have his Megilah checked to make sure that it is 100% Kosher. But Bediavad, if he reads the Megilah and there are some mistakes, (even mistakes that changed the context), since the Megilah is called Egeret, the Halacha Bediavad is, that it is OK. Egeret means a letter, and in letters we are not so strict, as you know people make mistakes and people are not careful to correct it. But as we said, it would be proper for everybody to buy a Megilah and have it checked, especially if he is going to read for the Tzibur.
