Making a Megillah kosher
Q. What makes a Megillah kosher?
A. The Megillah must be written on parchment with black ink by a believing Jew.
The sections of parchment must be sewn together with sinews, not glued together.
A printed text may not be used except if no parchment Megillah is obtainable; in this case the blessings are not said.
The great Jewish traveller, Jacob Levi Saphir, relates in his travelogue, “Even Sappir”, that when he arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand, in the 1860s, on a Wednesday, he found that the Jewish community had no Megillah.
He sat down and wrote one for them (he must have had some parchment with him), completing it by Erev Shabbat in time for Purim on the Saturday night.
