Rosenbaum was born in New York City, in Washington Heights, and grew up in Miami Beach, Florida, where his parents moved when he was nine years old. He is a child of Holocaust survivors. His mother had been in Majdanek, his father in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Their experiences in the Nazi death camps were not discussed within the household, but the subject has shaped Rosenbaum's career and writing.
Rosenbaum taught at Fordham Law School from 1992 to 2014, teaching human rights, legal humanities, and law and literature. In Spring 2005, he was a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, where he has been a frequent speaker, including at the annual Yom HaShoah Lecture hosted jointly by the American Society for Yad Vashem and Cardozo's Program in Holocaust & Human Rights Studies on “Remember How the Law Went Horribly Wrong”; the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials on "A Reappraisal and Their Legacy"; and as the Uri & Caroline Bauer Distinguished Lecturer on Rosenbaum's book, “The Myth of Moral Justice." Prior to teaching, he was an associate in the litigation department at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he also coordinated the firm's pro bono cases. Immediately after law school, he clerked for the Honorable Eugene P. Spellman, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. As a cultural commentator, Rosenbaum has been invited to speak at universities and other venues around the world, including the Yale University International Human Rights Symposium, Princeton University, the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies, the Goethe-Institut in New York, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He has served as an advisor, writer, co-producer, and commentator on several documentary films, including “Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust," produced and directed by Daniel Anker, “Forgiveness,” directed by Helen Whitney for PBS, and “Sidney Lumet, A Moral Lens,” a PBS American Masters film. Under Rosenbaum's leadership, the Forum on Life, Culture, & Society, Rosenbaum has hosted a wide range of notable guests, including Bill Clinton, Elie Wiesel, and Mario Cuomo. Rosenbaum moderates "The Talk Show With Thane Rosenbaum" at 92Y, where he has interviewed authors, musicians, directors, screenwriters, poets, politicians, and other public figures, including Jeb Bush, Ambassador Michael Oren, Eric Cantor, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Lawrence Summers. The 92nd Street Y hosts "The Talk Show with Thane Rosenbaum," an annual series of discussions on arts, culture, and politics. As the moderator of the Trials & Error series at 92Y, his panelists revisit high-profile court cases for a behind-the-scenes look at the legal strategies and foibles with lawyers, journalists, and the parties to the action or their family members and close associates.
Controversies
In 2014, Rosenbaum was criticized for an article in the Wall Street Journal where critics believe that he justified Israel's killing of Palestinian children whose parents are loyal to Hamas. In February 2019, he was criticized for his comments on a talk show, where he implied that Arab Muslims who believe in a strict adherence to Sharia law probably don't belong in the United States because their views are incompatible with American democracy, and will not adapt to the United States' political, pluralistic, and liberal culture.
Non-fiction
Saving Free Speech...from Itself
Payback: The Case for Revenge
The Myth of Moral Justice: Why Our Legal System Fails to Do What's Right
