I was recently a guest on Ari Lieberman’s Sparks of History podcast, and we discussed the “classical era” of Jewish history, including the Second Temple, Cyrus the Great, the last prophets of Israel; the Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes; Herod and the Hasmoneans, as well as Second Temple era messianism and what it means for us today.