Robert Zaretsky
- Culture Columnist, Forward
- Professor, University of Houston
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Articles by Robert Zaretsky
Why France’s Center Does Not Hold
In 2017, when French voters first elected Emmanuel Macron as president, pundits hailed him as the antidote to their nation’s “decline.” The term, in the parlance of that moment, seemed to encompass a condition that was not just economic and cultural but existential: France, as an idea and ideal, was decaying as surely as its national debt was deepening.
France’s Catholic Revival Is Fueling Its Far Right
Pope Francis, seen through the glass windshield of the Popemobile, raises his left hand to wave. Hundreds of people are visible in a crowd lining the street behind him. Francis wears long white vestaments and only a small white skullcap hat. Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the Popemobile as he rides down the Champs-Élysées Avenue to arrive to celebrate a solemn outdoor mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris on Sept. 26.
A great Jewish intellectual understood the Kafkaesque horror of Tennessee’s botched execution
A lethal injection facility. Photo by Getty Images Robert Zaretsky October 2, 2026 Two days ago, the state of Tennessee tried to kill Crista Pike, the Death Row prisoner who, in 1995, was found guilty of the torture and murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer.
They settled in a city where 200,000 Jews thrived. After Kristallnacht, her family fled and she stayed behind.
A Jewish shop in Vienna shuttered by the Nazis. Photo by Keystone/Getty Images By Robert Zaretsky September 28, 2026 The City Without Jews: Life and Death in Nazi Vienna By Douglas Smith FSG, 560 pages, $37 Several years ago, the historian Douglas Smith, who has won wide recognition for his several books on modern Russia, turned his attention to Vienna and its Jewish community during the rise and fall of the Third Reich.
France has fallen in love with its most famous president again
France has fallen in love with its most famous president again (washingtonpost.com) France has fallen in love with its most famous president again By Robert Zaretsky 2026082811010800 "Everyone is, was, or will be Gaullist." Rarely has the famous quip by André Malraux, the French novelist, adventurer and France's first minister of culture, been truer than it is today.
Still waiting, still wondering, still Waiting for Godot
EVERY afternoon, I drive to my local YMCA and spend an hour jogging in place on an elliptical machine. At that time of day, I am not in the mood to chat with my neighbours, churning away at their own machines, or even to gaze at the images on the screen before me. I instead turbo-charge my elliptical run and open a book. I am all business. But a couple of weeks ago, my eyes kept wandering from the book I had brought—a play that my students were reading in one of my classes—to a fellow Y regular.
Hidden Truths - The American Scholar
Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind by Thomas Meyer (tr. Shelley Frisch); Penguin Press, 560 pp., $35 Last year at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV spoke to a gathering of journalists from across the globe. He reflected on a “crisis of communication” brought about by the blurring between information, disinformation, and misinformation.
The real Jewish story of Ceuta, Spain's migrant-magnet neighbor to Morocco
The Forward brings you independent, nonprofit journalism with trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis of the Middle East, campus conflicts, and more. Sign up for the free morning newsletter today. For all of us who don't know much about geography, international political crises are always welcome. Since the start of Trump 2.0, we have been discovering places we never knew existed, but now present existential threats.
The real Jewish story of Ceuta, Spain’s migrant-magnet neighbor to Morocco
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
France’s Wildfires Are Swallowing Its Politics
Elections Environment Europe On Friday, July 24, firefighters battling the unprecedented forest fires in southwestern France glimpsed an equally unprecedented phenomenon: a pyrocumulonimbus, better known as a fire cloud. Already common in the western United States and Canada, fire clouds are a storm within a storm, wrought by extraordinary amounts of heat and energy that belch great plumes of fire that spawn fiery tornadoes that carbonize everything and everyone in their paths.
Antisemitic vitriol claims an unlikely new victim — a flamboyant and popular French DJ
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
Wildfires Are Burning Through European Leaders’ Climate Promises
“Our house is on fire while we avert our eyes. Nature, mutilated and plundered, can no longer regenerate and we refuse to admit it. Humanity is suffering—suffering from poor development in the North and South, and we remain indifferent. The earth and humankind are in danger and we are all responsible.” These now famous words were spoken by Jacques Chirac, the then-president of France, at the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Beckett the Prophet
Every afternoon, I drive to my local YMCA and spend an hour jogging in place on an elliptical machine. At that time of day, I am not in the mood to chat with my neighbors, churning away at their own machines, or even to gaze at the images on the screen before me. I instead turbo-charge my elliptical run and open a book. I am all business. But a couple of weeks ago, my eyes kept wandering from the book I had brought—a play that my students were reading in one of my classes—to a fellow Y regular.
With Marine Le Pen on the right and defiant France on the left, French Jews face an impossible choice
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With Marine Le Pen on the right and Defiant France on the left, French Jews face an impossible choice
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
With Marine Le Pen on the right and Defiant France on the left, French Jews face an impossible choice
As we welcome the new year, the shofar’s blast cuts through the noise to wake us up. It calls for truth and accountability within ourselves and for the world. The Forward takes the call for truth and accountability seriously. Readers come to the Forward for Jewish news they can trust, free of barriers or bias. They want the American Jewish story to be told fully and fairly. We rely on our readers to help us heed the shofar’s call.
Looking for a precedent for the Supreme Court’s decisions? Try Germany in the 1930s.
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
Long after he was murdered by the Nazis, Marc Bloch enters the Panthéon
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
A Tale of Two Handshakes and Macron’s Global Legacy
For a social gesture that goes back some three millennia, the handshake has recently garnered a good deal of attention. Or, in this case, two handshakes separated by nearly 10 years between the same two men: U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. You might recall the first of these encounters. In 2017, at the opening of the NATO meeting in Brussels, Trump and Macron—both fresh off election wins—met for the first time.
The Era of the French Intellectual Is Over
French writer Edgar Morin, who also wrote under the pseudonym Edgar Nahoum, at home in an undated photo. Sophie Bassouls/Sygma via Getty Images The death of the French intellectual Edgar Morin at the end of May was inevitable—death waits for us all, of course—yet also somehow impossible. Having reached the astonishingly lucid and active age of 104, Morin seemed immortal.
The latest victim of the culture war over Israel is a leftwing, lapsed Catholic Bible scholar
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story. But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking.
The Era of the French Intellectual Is Over
The death of the French intellectual Edgar Morin at the end of May was inevitable—death waits for us all, of course—yet also somehow impossible. Having reached the astonishingly lucid and active age of 104, Morin seemed immortal.
Aristotle, Jewish ethics and the vexing case of Graham Platner
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors. I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership. The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news.
In the course of his 104 years, he resisted the Nazis, fought against blood libel and became a towering Jewish intellectual
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors. I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership. The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news.
In France, a Billionaire’s Media Shopping Spree Raises Concerns for Democracy
Controversy is as commonplace at the Cannes Film Festival as the flash of cameras on the red carpet. Often the controversies are sartorial—bare-footed women, like Kristen Stewart, protesting the required high-heels—or simply inexplicable, as when the Danish director Lars von Trier blurted out in 2011 that he was a Nazi.
טשיקאַוועסן: אַ ירושה פֿון 200 ייִדישע חפֿצים געפֿינט אַ היים Tidbits: An inheritance of 200 pieces of Judaica finds a home
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief. And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over.
The Eulogy That Explains Israel’s Current Tragedy
Moshe Dayan gives the the eulogy at Roi Rotberg’s funeral in Israel on April 30, 1956. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson’s unit On April 30, 1956, the commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Moshe Dayan, spoke at the funeral of Roi Rotberg. A young man in charge of security at the Gaza border settlement of Nahal Oz, Rotberg had been murdered and mutilated by Palestinian fedayeen.
The Eulogy That Explains Israel’s Current Tragedy
Argument An expert’s point of view on a current event. A black and white photograph captures a somber gathering of people outdoors. In the center, a man in a military uniform and a peaked cap looks down while holding and reading from a small piece of paper. He wears a dark patch over his left eye. Moshe Dayan gives the the eulogy at Roi Rotberg’s funeral in Israel on April 30, 1956.
He committed murder today. Or maybe yesterday. He doesn’t know.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24. This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions.
The Importance of Being Idle
As I type these words, I worry over the day when I will no longer be commissioned to write them. The day, to be specific, that The American Scholar asks Claude (the moniker for Anthropic’s AI) and not Robert (the name of Max and Roslyn Zaretsky’s son) to create an essay on, say, AI and the future of work. Not surprisingly, I am not alone to worry: Not many subjects stir greater fear and dread among Americans than the seemingly irresistible rise of AI.
France’s Far Right Now Has a Clear Path to Power
This year marks the death of one of France’s noblest political ideals: the cordon sanitaire. Born in 1987 with the publication of a letter, signed by 122 political figures on the French left, it urged the creation of a “republican barrage” against the rise of the anti-immigrant, anti-European, and antisemitic National Front. For nearly four decades, this call was repeated and heeded not just by the French left but also by the right.
This Jewish philosopher knows our politics are absurd — and why that’s a good thing
In 1970, Jewish philosopher Thomas Nagel authored ‘What Is It Like To Be a Bat?” which could help readers navigate an upside-down world.
Plus Ça Change? French Anti-Americanism in the Trump Era
Earlier this year, a survey released by IFOP, one of France’s leading pollsters, raised more than a few eyebrows—both in France and elsewhere. It revealed that a slight majority of respondents, 51 percent, believe that the United States under President Donald Trump represents a “military threat” to France.
Benjamin Disraeli once saved Britain's monarchy — the current one may be beyond repair
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain, circa 1870. Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images How ironic that the crisis confronting the British monarchy, sparked by the former Prince Andrew’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, has occurred on the 145th anniversary of the death of the man in part responsible for reinventing that same institution: Benjamin Disraeli.
UH asked me not to 'indoctrinate' my students. Here's why I won't sign that pledge. | Opinion
Robert Zaretsky Last week University of Houston faculty who, like me, teach in College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences received a message from our dean. We were requested to sign a document attesting that we are not "indoctrinating" our students but instead teaching them how to think critically. It was a burst of Achtung . Let me explain. For the past several years, I have taught a UH course on the history and thought of the European Enlightenment.
UH asked me not to ‘indoctrinate’ students. Here’s why I won't sign that pledge.
Hundreds of University of Houston instructors were recently asked to sign a memo affirming that they teach — not “indoctrinate.” Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle Last week University of Houston faculty who, like me, teach in College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences received a message from our dean. We were requested to sign a document attesting that we are not “indoctrinating” our students but instead teaching them how to think critically. It was a burst of Achtung. Let me explain.
My university wants me to sign a loyalty oath — am I in America or Vichy France?
A Texas flag waves over the Lone Star State, 2025. Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images As a historian of modern France, I have rarely seen a connection between my everyday life in my adopted state of Texas and my work on my adopted specialization: the period we call Vichy France.
Hannah Arendt could have anticipated the Trump administration’s lies in Minnesota — and elsewhere
Portrait of German-born American political theorist and author Hannah Arendt, 1949. Photo by Fred Stein Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images During the last half-dozen years of Hannah Arendt’s life, the celebrated political and moral philosopher, who died in 1975, was shaken by a series of personal and political crises.
The Popper Principle
Many contemporary philosophers agree that Karl Popper (1902–1994) was one of the most influential 20th-century thinkers in their field. Most of them, in turn, would contend that the field of science has never been the same since Popper introduced the notion of fallibilism. Clunky though this word is, its insight is profound, namely that science advances not through the effort to prove a theory but instead by doing one’s darndest to disprove it.
Drunk with power, Donald Trump follows the dictates of Athenian commanders — and a certain Jewish philosopher
Engraving depicting the destruction of the Athenian army in Sicily, during the Peloponnesian War, circa 431-404 BC. Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must. This phrase has been invoked by political pundits and leaders, including the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, over the past few days as the world was plunged into Donald Trump’s fever dream of the conquest of Greenland.
Texas A&M censored Plato. It's what Plato himself might have done. | Opinion
A funny thing happened on the way to spring semester at Texas A&M. Martin Peterson, a professor of philosophy, was given a choice by the administration. Either remove excerpts from Plato's dialogue, the "Symposium," from his course material or be assigned to teach a different course. Why? Because these excerpts involve "gender ideology," a subject our elected representatives are busy purging from the "woke" curricula of state universities.
Texas A&M censored Plato. It's what Plato himself might have done.
Plato, philosopher Karl Popper argued, taught that noble lies were essential to controlling the people, and that government should fight all change. In censoring Plato, writes Robert Zaretsky, Texas conservatives have "censored a potential ally." georgeclerk/Getty Images A funny thing happened on the way to spring semester at Texas A&M. Martin Peterson, a professor of philosophy, was given a choice by the administration.
Ghosts Are Haunting France’s Remilitarization
France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during his visit of the French Air and Space Force in Saint-Sauveur, France on March 18, 2025. Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP Rarely have so few done so much to unsettle so many. Over the past few months, political and military leaders in France, with their eyes fastened on Russia, have declared that while their fellow citizens might not be interested in war, war is nevertheless interested in them.
France's History Is Haunting Macron's Remilitarization Plans
Argument An expert’s point of view on a current event. France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during his visit of the French Air and Space Force in Saint-Sauveur, France on March 18, 2025. France's President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during his visit of the French Air and Space Force in Saint-Sauveur, France on March 18, 2025. Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP Military Europe Rarely have so few done so much to unsettle so many.
This Jewish philosopher would have called out the Trump administration's b.s. in Minneapolis
ICE agents patrol a neighborhood during immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis Photo by Octavio JONES / AFP via Getty Images) Last week, the Trump administration immediately defended the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, insisting that the ICE officer who shot her acted in self-defense after she had tried to run him down.
A Jewish philosopher's warnings expose the injustice of Trump's attack on Venezuela
Fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, is seen from a distance after a series of explosions in Caracas on Jan. 3, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images “‘Emergency’ and ‘crisis’ are can’t words, used to prepare our minds for acts of brutality. And yet there are such things as critical moments in the lives of men and women and in the history of states. Certainly, war is such a time: Every war is an emergency, every battle is a possible turning point.
France’s Ascendant Far Right Nears the Apex of Power
Those who have seen the 2018 science fiction film “Annihilation” will be familiar with the Shimmer: the relentlessly expanding Jello-like phenomenon, located in Florida, that absorbs everything and everyone in its path. What is more, one of the scientists in the movie explains, is that the Shimmer “refracts” the genetic material of flora and fauna, including humans—slicing and dicing them into new life forms. Predictably, the film does not end happily.
In Brigitte Bardot, a complicated legacy of movie stardom, activism, xenophobia and antisemitism
Brigitte Bardot gives a press conference on December 1965. Photo by AFP via Getty Images The French actress Brigitte Bardot, who died Sunday at the age of 91, leaves behind a legacy as an actress who starred in a few notable and many less than notable films. Perhaps more importantly, Bardot also starred as BB (pronounced, bien sûr, as “baby”), a cultural icon who embodied the glories and miseries of a rapidly modernizing postwar France.
What if Donald Trump puts his name on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum?
Donald Trump at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum Photo by GALI TIBBON/AFP via Getty Images) What if I told you that this morning, I found the following Truth Social post on my newsfeed? “THE TRUMP US HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM HONORS will be broadcast tonight, on CBS, and Stream on Paramount+. Tune in at 8 P.M. EST! At the request of the Board, and just about everybody else in America, I am hosting the event. Tell me what you think of my “Master of Ceremony” abilities.
What if Donald Trump puts his name on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum?
4 hours ago Ukraine sees the future of naval warfare. The White House doesn’t. Last week, Donald Trump announced a new class of U.S. Navy battleships, which will be named after him. The Navy said that the new warship type “will be the most lethal surface combatant ever constructed.” The president portrayed the …
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