What Happened When a Conservative Jewish Group Invited DeSantis to Speak

The Tikvah Fund, a conservative Jewish organization, was all set to host a conference in June at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, when months of planning were suddenly derailed by its last-minute addition of a speaker who might have once been uncontroversial: the Republican governor of Florida.

The fund had invited Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss the vibrancy of Jewish life in Florida, a topic the fund wrote about in the April issue of its magazine, one month after Mr. DeSantis had signed legislation that prohibits classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools. Opponents have called the law “Don’t Say Gay.”

Tikvah signed a contract and sent it to the museum before Mr. DeSantis was added to the lineup, and the trouble began once the group updated its program to include the governor.

“Thanks for sharing this with me,” read an email to the fund from Trudy Chan, an official with the museum. Ms Chan noted that providing security for the governor would not be a problem, but she added: “We would need to ascertain if there are any potential conflicts with your invited speakers. Please stand by.”