995. Handling the Megillah on Shabbos

141:17 On a Shabbos that is not Purim, we are permitted to handle a Megillah. However, if Purim falls on Sunday, we may not bring the Megillah to shul on Shabbos, even in a city with an eiruv, because this is constitutes preparing on Shabbos for a weekday.

141:18 If a congregation does not have someone who can read the Megillah with the proper notes, someone can read without the notes so long as he reads the words correctly and does not change their meaning. For example, if instead of "Mordechai was sitting" (yosheiv), he read "sat" (yashav), or instead of "Haman had fallen" (nofeil), he read "fell" (nafal), etc., then even after the fact, the mitzvah has not been fulfilled. Since this is a case of great need, one may make marks in the Megillah to indicate vowels and notes so that it may be read properly. This is preferable to the alternative, which would be having someone else prompt the reader quietly from a printed book. The reason this is not desirable is because the one reading from the book, even if he is reading quietly, is not able to concentrate on hearing the words read by the reader. In the end, he will only have read from the printed book and he will not have fulfilled his obligation. In such a case, he must go back and hear it again from a kosher Megillah.