Passover, one in all an important events within the Jewish calendar, begins on Friday. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, by which the ancient Israelites had been freed from slavery in Egypt. And it's also a very busy time at New York's Jewish delis. I feel. Sherpa knows his manner around the lox and different delicacies I hope to buy at Russ, New York's great, appetising retailer. But perhaps I had higher clarify. Sherpas in New York? Subsequently, his daughters took over. Then his grandson Mark Federman went to regulation college. But Mark heard the call of the lox, it is claimed, and returned to run the shop until - in the final half-decade or so - Mark's daughter Nikki and her first cousin Josh have taken over the enterprise. Lox is within the blood. In New York, an "appetising store" usually refers to a spot that sells those fishy delicacies generally defined as "stuff that goes with bagels". Head into Russ on East Houston Street, the place the pink and inexperienced neon signal and a few neon fish - salmon, I think - wink over the door. On one aspect are glass-fronted counters that contain golden-skinned, sweet-fleshed, smoked whitefish, smoked mackerel, smoked sable, smoked sturgeon. There is residence-made cream cheese and, behind the counter, the perfect bagels in city, additionally bialys and the onion rolls often known as pletzel. In the again, there is the caviar, pickled herring, herring in cream sauce, herring salad. Before Jewish holidays, objects like gefilte fish, matzo-ball soup and latkes (potato pancakes) can be found to crowds who jam the store. But on the very heart of the place is the lox and the nova. In New York, almost everyone refers to smoked salmon as lox. Lox the truth is is the cheaper, saltier, brined stomach salmon. Its extra aristocratic cousin, cold-smoked salmon, often comes from Nova Scotia however New Yorkers use the time period nova, to discuss with all smoked salmon, besides lox. At Russ, displayed in all their glory, is smoked salmon from Ireland, Scotland and Norway. There may be even pastrami salmon, salmon spiced with pastrami flavouring. And behind the counter are the slicers, princes of the church of lox. Among them is Sherpa. It's a great distance from the eastern Himalayas to the peaks of nice slicing. And Sherpa did once climb to inside six hours of Everest's peak. Essentially the most well-known amongst them, of course, was Sherpa Tenzing Norgay who went up with Sir Edmund Hillary. Sherpa Lox's full name is Sherpa Chhapte Panasha, and he was born in Patle, a village with a population of 120 in jap Nepal. Restless and formidable, he made his solution to Zarzi the place he worked with trekkers, made mates with foreigners, received himself into an English-language school in Kathmandu - his English is fairly excellent now - and then to the USA. A job at an uptown appetising retailer taught Sherpa to slice salmon. Then someone talked about Russ & Daughters. A store supervisor now, Sherpa has been at Russ for a decade, the place he works alongside Italians, Dominicans, Mexicans and Israelis. There at the moment are about 7,000 Nepalese in New York and approximately 2,000 Sherpas. In 1907, when Joel Russ arrived at Ellis Island, it was a long journey, but he came, like thousands and thousands of others, seeking refuge and maybe a little bit slice of paradise. When, way back, the Sherpa tribe migrated from Tibet to Nepal, it is claimed they journeyed, first, in quest of a Shangri-la. You might consider Russ & Daughters as a primarily Jewish store, however this is New York - everybody comes right here. I ask. Sherpa grins. BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 BST. Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 BST (some weeks solely). Hear each day 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated by means of the day, also obtainable to pay attention online. Read extra or explore the archive, exterior on the programme website, external. The BBC shouldn't be liable for the content of exterior websites.