Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: The article discusses the challenges facing the world today, including terrorism, war, health issues, financial crises, environmental problems, and social inequality. Technology can help us to address these challenges, but we also need to rely on G-d for help. The article concludes with the message that we should not be afraid of the challenges facing the world but instead focus on doing what is right and being faithful to G-d.

1. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 1/8
THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
Leadership With Heart
A Dream of Global
Crises and G-d’s
Sovereignty
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2. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 2/8
Source Photo via https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-white-and-yellow-tiger-sitting-on-a-beige-sand-
during-daytime-47312/
A Scary Dream
Last night, I woke up from a “dream,” and in the final episode, there was a large,
ferocious tiger stalking me with a message. A voice in the dream told me that
this tiger in the room had to do with the world in crisis today.
In the dream, as I tried to maneuver around the room to escape the tiger, he
pursued me, first playfully and then more aggressively. Finally, running out of
options for safety or survival, I saw a cupboard, and I hid in it, praying. But then
I saw, from around the corner, the tiger’s snout and then his whole face leering
at me, and I abruptly awoke.
Obviously, there are a lot of possible interpretations of this dream, but as I
reflected on it, it seemed important to bring together many of the “tiger-like”
global conflicts and plights that threaten us today.
Terrorism and War

3. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 3/8
On October 7, we had the largest terror attack since 9/11. The barbaric attack by
hordes of Hamas terrorists across Israel’s southern border resulted in the rape,
torture, beheadings, burnings, murders, and taking of hostages that, as a
colleague mentioned, “we thought only happened in ancient times.” The
subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza is just on the verge of a wider regional
war that expands north with Hezbollah and to the far east, with a major
confrontation with arch-terrorist sponsor Iran, which is reaching nuclear
breakout and seems to be itching for a fight of epic and radical Islamic
proportions with the US and Israel.
Of course, on top of this is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, first in 2014 and
now raging for the last 2 years into a full-fledged proxy war occurring between
NATO and Russia that has at many points seen threatened escalation to the use
of nuclear weapons. Additionally, Russia’s isolation from the West has resulted
in their closing ranks with China and the axis of evil countries Iran and North
Korea. Further, China itself is threatening to invade Taiwan, and North Korea is
saber-rattling with South Korea, both of which would test our security
partnerships and could easily escalate into world war dimensions.
Health and Life Expectancy
It’s been four years since COVID brought to the fore our personal and societal
vulnerability to illness. Remember also the debate over whether COVID was
developed as a result of Chinese biological weapons development? Now instead
of being worried about getting sick, there is a trifecta of annual illnesses that
include the flu, COVID, and RSV, driving the rate of illness way up. On top of
this, there is the next mystery illness from China, and it is a deadly antibiotic-
resistant pneumonia. While COVID hit the elderly and those with prior
conditions hard, this new China pneumonia is hitting infants at an alarming
rate. Further, suicide rates, which have been trending upward, have hit the
highest rate in 80 years. Taken together with other health issues, despite
advances in medicine, life expectancy is actually declining and has erased all
gains since 1996.

4. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 4/8
Finance and the Economy
The world has experienced numerous financial shocks in recent times that
continue to reverberate, and these include the financial meltdown of 2008,
which was the largest since the Great Depression. This saw the likes of financial
stalwarts like Lehman Brothers and many other banks and institutions collapse
under the weight of predatory lending, subprime mortgages, and greedy risk-
taking. Again, in 2018, we endured another financial crisis, this time driven by a
percolating trade war with China, looming inflation, rising interest rates,
spiraling national debt, and declining consumer confidence. In fact, these same
issues are continuing to apply a vise-like pressure on the economy today.
Environment and Sustainability
For decades, we have been warned about the effects of wide-scale global
pollution, unsustainable use and abuse of planet Earth, and global warming
driven by industrialization, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and more.
While many people seek to disprove a pending environmental crisis, statistics
clearly show the rise in global temperatures, with 2023 being the warmest on
record yet. The impact in terms of severe storms, increased drought, warming
and rising oceans, threats to our food supply chain, health risks, and the
extinction of species is beginning to come into greater focus.
Social Inequality and Divisiveness
There is growing polarization of the left and right, social inequality, racial,
sexual, religious, and other discrimination, radical extremism, social unrest,
chaos at our borders, and outbreaks of violence. Despite attempts to quiet the
unrest, including recent attempts at expanding diversity, equity, inclusion, and
accessibility (DEIA), we’ve continued to see a rising tension across social media,
confrontations in subways and streets, and “peaceful” protests turn from
hotheaded to ugly, with statues, stores, and institutions vandalized, cities
burning, anarchists threatening to upend the social order, and even people
getting killed.

5. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 5/8
What Can Technology Do?
Helping us to fend off the boiling pressures in the world today have been two
main things:
One is the rapid advance in technology, whether from computerization,
communications, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and more.
Probably no one represents that promise of the future more than the world’s
greatest genius of our times, Elon Musk, the driving force behind SpaceX, Tesla,
Solar City, Optimus Robotics, Neuralink, the Boring Company, X (formerly
Twitter), and xAI. Musk is obsessed with creating a more sustainable planet
here, but also with the need to ultimately save humanity (i.e., human
consciousness) and get us to Mars and its colonization.
Of course, the flip side of technology, as we are frequently reminded nowadays,
is that as much as it can save us, it can also potentially destroy us.
So Where Does This Leave Us With The Tiger?
Just like in the dream, it became clear to me that nothing we humans alone can
do to stop a hungry, deadly tiger. We can hide inside the cupboard, but there it
is, just waiting for an opportunity to pounce even as we desperately try to fight
it off.
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6. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 6/8
I think that in this dream, God was telling me that bad things are coming—
perhaps they are the bad times before the ultimate good times of redemption.
We cannot escape these events through physical means alone, no matter how
smart we think we are.
Yes, we must do our part, but the most important thing we can do is to sincerely
recognize and serve the Almighty One above and not the false idols of material
possessions, power, or anything else in this world. G-d has a plan for the world,
and He controls when and what will ultimately happen.
We are in the best of hands. G-d’s omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence
assure us that his ever-loving, merciful, and saving hand is always there with us.
In the end, we don’t need to be afraid of the tiger; we simply need to do what is
right and be faithful to G-d.
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7. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 7/8
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
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8. 12/1/23, 3:24 PM A Dream of Global Crises and G-d's Sovereignty | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-dream-of-global-crises-and-g-ds-sovereignty/ 8/8
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