Year of publication: 2013 | Pages: 240 | Format: 13 × 20.5 cm, hardcover

If I Were Not Golem studies the writings of Prague rabbi Yehuda Löw and perceives him as a Renaissance philosopher rather than a legendary magician. In his cabalistically formulated descriptions of creation as the domination of thought over matter, in the ethics of the middle way and in the interpretations of biblical miracles, he finds the forerunners of quantum physics, the theory of relativity, post-Freudian motivational and transpersonal psychology and the education system, which Comenius handed over to the world in an almost identical form a century later. He intersperses them with events from Jewish history, the structure of Jewish education and Jewish anecdotes. Instead of the usually emphasized Jewish historical tragedies, he focuses on historical Jewish achievements and tries to trace the psychological and cultural elements that contribute to success. It records Löw's intertwining with Czech history, Czech culture, Czech psyche and Czech destinies and finds in him several elements that Czechs and Jews have in common and with which they could strengthen their path to national success.