Here is a link to the shiur ( in Hebrew) on Purim that Rabbanit Shani Taragin gave yesterday at the Beit Midrash in Oz veGaon with a Zionist interpretation on the Megillah.

Rabbanit Taragin reminds us of the historical context in which the story of the Megillah took place – at a time when the Holy Temple was  in the Land of Israel and there was independence and a good life for the Jews.

Despite this, most of the Jews chose to remain outside the Land.

Based on sections from the Midrash and passages from the Bible, the Rabbanit showed how the Scroll of Esther itself is Mordechai and Esther’s criticism of the Jews outside the Land, who chose to enjoy Ahasuerus’ feast and his beautiful clothes instead of coming to the Land of Israel and having the privilege of making the pilgrimage to the Temple and attend the priests’ rituals.

Even at the end of the story – despite all that they had been through, the Jews decide to remain and not make aliyah to the Land.

And this is that reason that Esther requested that her message be “written for the generations”, because the Jews of her time did not understand the message that there are dangers outside the Land, they did not understand that they had an opportunity to return to the Land and appear before the King of Kings – so Esther hopes that the generations that follow will read the megilla and understand that this is what every Jew must do – leave the Diaspora, leave Ahasuerus’ palace and live in the Land of Israel, since only in the Land of Israel is it possible to fulfill the Jewish People’s destiny.

Rabbanit Taragin also mentions that the fact that when the Sages chose to commemorate the special holiday of Shushan Purim to be celebrated in places where there are walls surrounding the city from the time of Joshua bin Nun, who conquered the Land, the sages actually made Purim a holiday of the Land of Israel  – a holiday in which we celebrate the fact that we have a Land where we can be independent and sovereign. To build in it a society of peace and truth by exchanging mishloach manot and giving gifts to the poor.

The Rabbanit concluded the lesson with a request to send every Jew outside the Land of Israel this important message behind the story of the Megillah:

To all our Jewish brothers and sisters, come home, to Eretz Yisrael !