Podcast Summary:

New Books Network – Interview with Rabbi Professor Shlomo Pereira on Monuments de Papel E Pergaminho: Hebrew Printing in Portugal at the End of the 15th Century (Chabad Portugal Press, 2025)
Original Air Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Rora Rousey
Guest: Rabbi Professor Shlomo Pereira

Overview

This episode of the New Books Network’s Jewish Studies Channel features a rich discussion between host Rora Rousey and Rabbi Professor Shlomo Pereira about his book Monuments de Papel E Pergaminho: Hebrew Printing in Portugal at the End of the 15th Century. The conversation delves into the forgotten legacy of Jewish scholarly publishing during a tumultuous epoch in Iberian history, the pivotal period between the Spanish Expulsion (1492) and Portugal’s forced conversions (1497). Pereira’s central argument is that, in the absence of surviving physical Jewish monuments in Portugal, the true monuments are the manuscripts and early printed Hebrew works—a legacy with technological, historical, and cultural significance that continues to shape both Jewish and Iberian historical memory.

Main Themes & Discussion Points

1. Personal Introduction and The Meaning of “Monuments”

• Rabbi Pereira’s Background: Both an academic (William and Mary) and rabbi (Chabad educator), with a deep passion for Jewish history as an active force shaping identity, not just the past.
  • “History is about how we see the past, how we feel the past, and we are what we remember. So it's before me never about the past. It's about what we learn from it now.” (03:03)
• Why “Monuments” of Paper & Parchment?:
  • In Portugal, tangible Jewish monuments were erased by time, persecution, and natural disaster. The only remaining “monuments” are texts: manuscripts and early printed books.
  • These artifacts are overlooked but reveal the vibrancy and intellectual contributions of the Portuguese and Spanish Jewish communities at the end of the 15th century.
  • “Those are our monuments. That's what we can show for what. Not conventional monuments, but very important monuments.” (04:55)

2. Reframing Iberian Jewish History: Contributions, Not Just Catastrophe

• Countering Negative Narratives:
  • Pereira expresses urgency in moving beyond the “they tried to kill us” view of Iberian Jewish history, instead emphasizing Jewish contributions to mathematics, astronomy, poetry, and more.
  • “I'm a little bit, forgive me the expression, sick and tired of the narrative about the Iberian Peninsula being about ‘they tried to kill us.’ We know that. But what I want to show is how much we were accomplishing while they were trying to do that.” (06:13)
• Bridging Communities:
  • The aim is to educate both Jews and wider Iberian societies about this shared, overlooked heritage, fostering mutual respect and integration into national narratives.
  • “We can contribute by bringing Jewish history into the table, we can contribute to enhancing what Iberian history is. And that's the bridge that we want to...build.” (07:58)

3. Defining the “Iberian Jews” of the 1490s

• Hybrid Community:
  • Post-1492, Portugal’s Jewish community was overwhelmingly composed of Spanish refugees. Iconic families—Abu Abs, Benevenists, Abravanels, Ibn Yahya, Ibn Habib—were present, making Portugal the center of Iberian Jewry.
  • Rabbi Josef Caro’s own uncle, a major yeshiva head, lived in Lisbon; a newly surfaced colophon suggests Caro himself may have been born in Portugal, not Toledo as traditionally thought.
    • “If so, it's very possible that Rabbi Joseph Caro, the great codifier of Jewish law...was born in Portugal.” (14:34)

4. What Colophons Teach Us & the Process of Uncovering History

• Personal Touch in Iberian Jewish Works:
  • Unlike earlier rabbinic commentaries, Iberian Jewish writers often embedded personal reflections and autobiographical details in their works.
    • “With the Iberian commentators...they feel free to tell about their lives and about their experiences.” (15:10)
• The Detective Work of Reading Colophons:
  • Colophons are often cryptic, filled with biblical references, codes, and ambiguous dates. Deciphering them requires linguistic fluency and knowledge of calendar systems (Jewish, Julian, Gregorian).
  • Example: A volume of Talmud Brachot printed in Portugal contains a two-line colophon that's a puzzle of dating systems, ambiguous names, and titles like “portero”—a prestigious court intermediary—demonstrating the complexity of reconstructing historical context.
    • “There's nothing automatic about it.” (24:06)

5. Bilingual Scholarship and Outreach

• Publishing in Portuguese & English:
  • All books by Pereira and his American co-author are fully bilingual, integrating Portuguese and English on facing pages.
  • This not only makes scholarship accessible to non-English-speaking locals, but also signals a desire to foster collective Iberian memory and a shared sense of heritage.
  • “We want to share this common heritage...from the midst of a Jewish memory, we are hearing the voices of our Jewish forefathers.” (28:20-29:08)

6. The Transformative Impact of Hebrew Printing in Portugal

• Printing as Paradigm Shift:
  • Printing revolutionized Jewish learning—where once copying a book might take a year, now ten could be printed a day, allowing Jews to withstand book seizures and disseminate knowledge widely.
  • In Portugal (unlike Italy or Spain), Hebrew printing not only flourished but led the national printing industry; more than two-thirds of all books printed in Portugal (in a decade) were in Hebrew.
    • “When Jewish printing, Hebrew printing reached Portugal, it was already leading the way in terms of printing in general.” (32:23)
• Movable Legacies, New Worlds:
  • Expelled Jewish printers transplanted their art to the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and beyond. Decorative frames used in manuscripts can be traced from Spain to Portugal, Constantinople, Salonica, and further—a visual symbol of migration and continuity.
  • “This was...an end, but much more than that was many new beginnings.” (37:30)

7. Jews in Science: The Case of Rabbi Abraham Zacuto and the Almanac Perpetuum

• Rabbi Abraham Zacuto’s Contributions:
  • Rabbi Zacuto was a leading astronomer, mathematician, and professor at the University of Salamanca, considered Portugal’s chief scientist in his time.
  • His Almanac Perpetuum enabled ocean navigation through astronomical tables and the invention of a new maritime astrolabe—essential tools for Portuguese and Spanish exploration.
  • His work was indispensable for cultural titans like Columbus (who scribbled notes in Zacuto’s almanac) and is even referenced in Portuguese epic poetry, rare recognition for a Jewish figure.
  • The lunar crater “Zacuto” is named in his honor.
  • “He is the only rabbi of a long period that has a crater in the moon named after him.” (44:50)
• Firsts in Printing:
  • Zacuto’s almanac (translated into Spanish and Latin) was the first non-Hebrew book printed by a Hebrew press anywhere, a sign of scientific integration and prestige.
  • The fact that the press invested in non-Hebrew type and printing suggests they were not anticipating imminent expulsion—contradicting popular assumptions about Jewish fatalism during that period.
    • “It's the first time. There is nothing before this. There are some after, but very few.” (46:28)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “History is about how we see the past, how we feel the past, and we are what we remember.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (03:03)
• “The only thing that you have left from that period...are those monuments of paper and parchment.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (04:45)
• “I'm a little bit, forgive me the expression, sick and tired of the narrative about the Iberian Peninsula being about ‘they tried to kill us.’ ...I want to show is how much we were accomplishing while they were trying to do that.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (06:13)
• “This generation, incidentally, of the immediate ancestors of Josef Caro...it's very possible that Rabbi Joseph Caro...was born in Portugal.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (10:22, 14:34)
• “With the Iberian commentators...they feel free to tell about their lives and about their experiences.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (15:10)
• “When Jewish printing, Hebrew printing reached Portugal, it was already leading the way in terms of printing in general.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (32:23)
• “We gave new worlds to the world. So the Portuguese gave new worlds to the world. And I think this is a fascinating concept because this is what the Jews that were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula did—it was to give new worlds to the world.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (37:06)
• “He is the only rabbi of a long period that has a crater in the moon named after him...because of his contributions to astronomy and cartography and so forth.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (44:50)
• “It's the first time. There is nothing before this...having a Hebrew printing press, printing books that were not in Hebrew was very unusual.”
  — Rabbi Pereira (46:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:03] Rabbi Pereira introduces his personal background and philosophy of history.
• [03:17] Meaning of “monuments” in the context of Portuguese Jewish history.
• [06:13] Refocusing Jewish and Iberian memory on contributions rather than persecution.
• [09:07] Explaining the makeup of the Jewish community in late 15th-century Portugal.
• [11:51] The discovery of a possible Portuguese birth for Rabbi Yosef Caro, through manuscript colophons.
• [14:56] Unique autobiography in Iberian rabbinic writings.
• [16:36] Analyzing and decoding colophons, detective work of scholarship.
• [26:30] The importance of producing bilingual Portuguese-English scholarship.
• [30:50] Printing presses: technology and transformational social change.
• [37:06] Jewish expulsion as both an end and the seed for new Jewish worlds.
• [38:56] Rabbi Abraham Zacuto, Jewish scientific contributions and their global impact.
• [44:50] Recognition of Jewish scientists: Zacuto’s lunar namesake.
• [46:28] The Almanac Perpetuum as the first non-Hebrew book printed by a Hebrew press.

Tone, Style, and Memorable Moments

The discussion is scholarly but warm, peppered with expressions of pride, a sense of shared memory, and gentle humor (e.g., the “it sounds like a joke” dynamic of the co-authors’ cross-cultural partnership). Pereira’s tone is insistently positive, seeking to inspire both contemporary Jewish communities and non-Jewish Iberians with the creative legacy they share. Rousey’s questions guide the conversation with clarity, curiosity, and a sense of wonder at the detective work and cultural synthesis revealed in Pereira’s research.

Memorable moment:
Pereira’s passionate declaration that these texts are “monuments” in their own right—standing testament to a flourishing culture erased physically but indelible on paper—is a powerful metaphor with resonance for diasporic identity everywhere.

For Further Exploration

Pereira’s Monuments de Papel E Pergaminho is available in bilingual format from Chabad Portugal Press (2025). Additional recommended reading: “Jewish Voices from Portugal” (with presidential preface), and works tracing the colophons and migratory paths of Sephardic printers and scholars.

Summary prepared for listeners and researchers seeking a thorough understanding of this episode’s major ideas, personalities, and transformative historical insights.