(Photo: Beth Israel Quarterly)
By Rabbi Jason Nevarez in San Diego, California
This past Sunday, Bad Bunny delivered one of the most unapologetically American halftime shows I have ever seen – singing entirely in Spanish, centering Puerto Rican culture, and declaring, “Mi patria, Puerto Rico. Seguimos aquí. (My homeland, Puerto Rico. We’re still here.)
Benito is from Vega Baja – the very same town my father and family come from – so this was very personal for me.
The imagery was not random. Some background for you: the sugarcane fields displayed evoked the island’s complicated colonial history and the labor that built empires. The dangling phone and electric power lines felt like a quiet but unmistakable nod to Hurricane Maria – to fragility, neglect, and resilience; to the way Puerto Ricans stayed connected when systems failed them (I have experienced many times while on the island). And when he handed his Grammy to a little boy, it was more than sweet. It was prophetic. It said: You belong in this story too.
What we witnessed on that field was culture, history, and love carried proudly onto the biggest stage in the country – a reminder that America has always spoken in many languages, carried many flags, and been built by many hands.
As a Jew and Rabbi with proud Puerto Rican ancestry and lineage, I felt a powerful confluence in that moment – a people holding onto identity, memory, and hope in the face of dismissal. That is a story the Jewish community knows well.
The Torah reminds us: “Be strong and courageous… for Adonai your God is with you wherever you go” (Book of Joshua 1:9). Strength here is not about dominance. It is about dignity. And courage is not about erasing difference. It is about standing firmly in who we are.
So what do we do with it?
We refuse to shrink. We teach our children their stories. We honor our ancestors. We sing our songs – in Hebrew, in Spanish (in my case), in English – without apology. We create communities where complexity is strength, not threat. And we remember that bringing our full, authentic selves into public space is not an act of defiance; it is an act of blessing.
America is strongest when we do not flatten differences, but when we stand tall in who we are – and offer that fullness, generously, to one another.
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Rabbi Jason Nevarez is President of the San Diego Board of Rabbis and Cantors. He serves as the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego.