Handelzalts was born in Poland. His grandfather,
Elyahu Handelzalc, was a teacher and writer from
Warsaw,
Poland who fled the city in 1939. He is believed to have been murdered by German troops in
Novogrudok, along with 70 Jewish intellectuals who were rounded up and taken to an unknown destination. Handelsaltz began his career in 1969 by writing theater reviews for the newspaper
Lamerhav. From 1971 to 1981, he served at
Galei Tzahal (Israel's Army Radio). In March 1975, he began publishing theater criticism for
Haaretz. His first review for the paper covered
Shakespeare's "
The Comedy of Errors," staged at
the Cameri Theatre. Following the retirement of veteran critic
Haim Gamzu, Handelsaltz assumed the role of the permanent theater critic for
Haaretz. In 2005, he launched a weekly column titled "The Last Word." ==See also==