Michael Handelzalts

Michael Handelzalts was born in 1950 in Warsaw

Handelzalts was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1950, the son of a physician, Dr. Avraham Handelzalts. His grandfather, Israel Eliyahu Handelzalts, edited a children's weekly and translated children's books into Hebrew, including the first Hebrew translation of Pinocchio. The family came to Israel in 1957 with the Gomulka Aliyah.

He graduated from Ironi Hey high school in Tel Aviv. He earned a bachelor's degree in theater and general literature from Tel Aviv University.

In 1969 he began writing theater reviews for Lamerhav, and from 1971 to 1981 he served at Galei Tzahal. In March 1975 he started reviewing plays for Haaretz and later became its permanent theater critic after Haim Gamzu retired. He joined the Haaretz staff in 1981 as critic and editor, and edited its book supplement from 1993 to 2005.

In 2005 he began a weekly column called The Last Word, and he translated books from Polish and English. He won the Sokolov Award for journalism. In March 2017 he published a farewell column after 42 years as the paper's theater critic.

In 2022 he took part in the TV quiz show The Chase on Kan 11. In 2024 he acted on stage for the first time, in Brecht's Antigone directed by Ira Avneri. He is married and has 3 children.