Imagine My Joy

The story of Yitzhak and Gita Pearl Cramer, Shimon Levi and Dobeh Blinick and their descendants is the account of one extended family but also a reflection of its times. Told in large part through first-person recollections, this family history traces the events that shaped two centuries, from Vitebsk and pre-revolutionary Czarist Russia to mid-20th Century North America. More than the author suspected when he began his research, the family progenitors and those who followed were directly affected by the major currents of the past 200 years: the edicts, anti-Semitism and heavy-handed policing of the Russian czars; the tragedy of world war; the great 19th century escape from grim impoverishment and discrimination in Europe to the bright hope of North America; economic blight and later post-war achievement. This story –  reflecting the passions, dreams and humor of these people – is their legacy.