28 October 2006

The Sound of Music

No, not the von Trapp family. This time, it’s the Kalter family.

When Logan Kleinwaks amassed information on some 3,200 Kalter family members, some of the clues led him to David Verbeeck, whose musical based on the Kalter family, “Portrait of a Silent Spring,” is having its New York premiere this weekend.

Kleinwaks and Verbeeck realized that the play's main character, Moses Kalter, is their common ancestor; Kleinwaks is related through his mother’s family.

Some 60 Kalter relatives will be in the audience for “Portrait of a Silent Spring.”

The curtain rises and through the lifting darkness we hear Moses Kalter (David Verbeeck) reading from his love letter to his wife Chaja: “Sometimes we must return to yesterday to explain today.”

This is true not just for Moses but for the entire Kalter family, and specifically two men, from different parts of the world, whose love of family brought them together this weekend for an extraordinary event.


Read the rest of the story here

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