Shabbat Sermon: Siblings with Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

I have been thinking a lot this week about Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence stands 6-foot-6. He is a professional quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars. As a freshman in college, he led his team, Clemson, to a national championship. When he declared for the NFL draft, he was labeled a can’t miss talent, a generational football prodigy with the size, the arm strength, and the intelligence to be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game. It has not quite worked out that way so far in his first year and a half. That’s a separate conversation. But he was one of the most heralded and anticipated college quarterbacks ever and was the first player chosen in the draft.

What is the connection between Trevor Lawrence and Thanksgiving weekend and parshat Toldot?

Trevor has an older brother named Chase. Chase is also tall. He stands 6-foot-2. But unlike his famous brother Trevor, Chase has zero interest in sports—playing or watching He has not played team sports since middle school. He watches Trevor’s games as a loving brother, but if his brother is not in the game, Chase has no interest in watching sports. Chase is a professional artist. He and his wife Brooke are oil painters and sculptors. They get a lot of commissions, and make a good living, doing art.

Here are two siblings—same mother, same father, same home. And yet they are so different. The athlete who has no artistic ability. The artist who has no athletic ability.

How do we understand sibling diversity?