How is the recitation of the Shema and the reading of the Megillah the same and different? TB Megillah 17

Daf TB Megillah 17 concludes the first chapter of our massekhet and begins the second chapter. The first chapter discusses when we read the Megillah before going on a series of tangents whether they are the ain bein (אין בין) mishnayot or the rabbinic explication of verses in the Megillah. The second chapter deals with how we read the Megillah. The Mishnah on our daf opens with “With regard to one who reads the Megilla out of order, reading a later section first, and then going back to the earlier section, he has not fulfilled his obligation.” (Sefaria.org translation) The Gemara learns that from this verse. “’And that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation” (Esther 9:28). Remembering is juxtaposed to observing, indicating: Just as observing cannot be out of order, as was derived from the words “That they should unfailingly observe these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed times,” so too, remembering, by reading the Megilla, may not be out of order.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Gemara cites other recitations that must be read in order. “The Sages taught in a baraita: This halakha of not reading out of order applies also to hallel, and also to the recitation of Shema, and also to the Amida prayer, meaning that to fulfill one’s obligation he must recite the text of each of these in order.” (Sefaria.org translation)

In the midst of proving that one must read the three paragraphs of the Shema in order, the rabbis say one may fulfill a person’s obligation to recite the Shema in any language he understands. The sages learned from “The verse states: “Hear, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:4), which could also be translated, “Understand, O Israel,” indicating that you may recite these words in any language that you hear, i.e., understand.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rabbi Daniel Landes writes about reciting the Shema in any language: “Ritually speaking people who do not understand Hebrew, and so cannot attain intentionality (kavanah) when they read it, may use any language that they ‘hear,’ that is, ‘understand,’ but should use the Hebrew names for God. From a doctrinal point of view also, and exact rendering into another language fulfills the mitzvah, but a proper translation may be unavailable or even impossible in practice. Halakhah does prefers using the original liturgical Hebrew for doctrinal purposes. One need not know the exact translation of the words, since all that is required is a sense of the general content or what is being said, and the liturgical context alone is assumed to provide that basic understanding, since one recognizes at least that this is the liturgical place where we affirm God’s unity.” (My People’s Prayer Book: the Sh’ma in Its Blessings, volume 1, page 95)

Even though one may recite the Shema in any language, the prayer in Hebrew packs emotional power and resonates more when recited in Hebrew than singing “Hear O’ Israel the Lord your God the Lord is one.”

What about the Torah? May it be read in any language to fulfill our obligation? Tosefot ד"ה כׇּל הַתּוֹרָה כּוּלָּהּ בְּכׇל לָשׁוֹן נֶאֶמְרָה is astonished that Rashi says yes one may read the weekly Torah portion in any language one understand because reading the Torah is only a rabbinic institution and not a mitzvah of the Torah with the exception of parashat zakhor (remembering Amalek). However, those passages which are a mitzvah to be recited like halitza (the ritual when a brother does not want to marry his deceased sibling’s wife who has no children), the ritual of the eglah arufa (the ritual when a dead bodies found at the border of two towns and the murderer is unknown), and the confession of ma’aser and bikkurim (first fruits) as taught in TB Sukkah 32a.