Michael Hendelzalts

Michael Hendelzalts (born 26 March 1950) is an Israeli journalist, theatre critic, editor and translator. From 1975 until his retirement in 2017, he wrote theatre criticism for Haaretz, becoming one of the most enduring voices documenting the country’s stage. He also held major editorial positions at the newspaper and wrote about literature, the arts, language and public culture. His work combined close attention to performance with a commitment to giving readers clear, thoughtful access to artistic experience.

A family shaped by words

Hendelzalts was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Dr. Avraham Hendelzalts, a physician. His grandfather, Israel Eliyahu Hendelzalts, was a writer, a prolific Hebrew translator and editor of the children’s weekly Tzfiraim. He was also the first to translate Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio into Hebrew. This family background placed translation, editing and the transmission of literature at the center of Hendelzalts’s early inheritance.

He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1957 as part of the Gomulka aliyah. He grew up in Tel Aviv, studied at Municipal High School V, and earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre and general literary theory from Tel Aviv University. The combination of theatrical studies and literary training gave him the foundation for a career that treated performance both as a live event and as a cultural text.

Entering journalism and broadcasting

In 1969, Hendelzalts began writing theatre criticism for the newspaper Lamerhav. From 1971 to 1981 he served at Galey Zahal, Israel’s army radio station, gaining experience in broadcasting and daily journalism. In March 1975 he published his first theatre review in Haaretz, writing about The Comedy of Errors at the Cameri Theatre. After the retirement of Haim Gamzu, he became the newspaper’s regular theatre critic.

That appointment began a long period of public cultural documentation. His reviews recorded not only whether a production succeeded, but also its artistic language, the work of its performers and its place in Israeli cultural life. Across thousands of encounters with the stage, he created a sustained journalistic record of productions, actors, directors and playwrights who shaped Israeli theatre.

Editing and cultural journalism at Haaretz

In 1981, Hendelzalts joined the Haaretz staff as a theatre critic and editor. From 1981 to 1992 he edited the paper’s Arts section. He also edited Words and Publishers from 1985 to 1992 and later served as editor of the newspaper’s Books supplement from 1993 through 2005. These positions broadened his influence beyond his own reviews: he helped shape editorial priorities and bring literature and the arts before a large reading public.

In 2005 he began writing the weekly column The Last Word. The column gave him room to write about language, culture and everyday life in a personal and observant voice. Alongside his journalism, he translated books from Polish and English, extending the range of literature available to Hebrew readers and continuing the cultural exchange that had marked his family’s history.

Hendelzalts described theatre criticism as a particularly demanding form of writing because acting combines skill and emotion, while the artist’s instrument is the human body and soul. In his view, criticism should not function as friendly advice to an audience member or as feedback to a director. Its task is to describe, in a limited number of words, a complex experience after opening night. He also stressed the importance of not overlooking actors and of finding language for the experience created by their work. This approach helps explain his sustained attention to performance and to the human detail behind a production.

The Bible, accessibility and public writing

Beginning in 2015, Hendelzalts wrote a daily column for the 929 – Tanakh Together initiative. The project brought his skills as a writer and interpreter to a renewed public reading of biblical chapters for contemporary Israeli audiences. His participation connected the worlds of journalism, literature and Jewish textual culture, while demonstrating his ability to make demanding material part of an ongoing public conversation.

On 29 March 2017, after reaching retirement age, he published a farewell column marking the end of his tenure as Haaretz’s theatre critic. His departure closed a 42-year period in which he had provided a consistent record of Israeli theatre. In later life, after becoming disabled and using a mobility scooter, he also wrote about accessibility problems in theatre venues. His perspective drew attention not only to artistic quality, but to the practical question of who can enter cultural institutions and participate in public cultural life.

Hendelzalts received the Sokolov Award for journalism. He is married and has three children.

A legacy of recording, editing and opening doors to culture

Hendelzalts’s importance lies in the unusual combination of longevity and range in his work. He spent more than four decades reviewing theatre, edited arts and literary sections, translated from Polish and English, contributed to public discussions of language and culture, and wrote about the Bible through a major Israeli initiative. His journalism preserved a record of Israeli stage life and literary culture while teaching generations of readers how to approach art with curiosity, precision and respect for the human labor behind it.

Why this legacy belongs in Moreshet

Michael Hendelzalts merits inclusion in Moreshet because he worked for decades at the intersection of journalism, literature, theatre and Hebrew language. Through his reviews in Haaretz, his editorial work and his translations, he documented artists and productions, helped shape cultural discussion and made central parts of Israeli public life more accessible to readers. His participation in the 929 initiative added a further dimension: a contemporary, public engagement with Jewish scripture.

His profile on Moreshet.com matters not simply because of the offices he held, but because his career shows how criticism, editing and translation can become instruments of cultural memory. Hendelzalts connected the Jewish tradition of reading and interpretation with modern Hebrew culture, leaving future generations a sustained account of how Israel watched, read and thought about artistic creation.