Passover, one among a very powerful events in the Jewish calendar, begins on Friday. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. And it is also a really busy time at New York's Jewish delis. I feel. Sherpa knows his way around the lox and other delicacies I'm hoping to buy at Russ, New York's nice, appetising retailer. But perhaps I had better clarify. Sherpas in New York? Subsequently, his daughters took over. Then his grandson Mark Federman went to law college. But Mark heard the decision of the lox, it is alleged, and returned to run the store until - within 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 typically outlined as "stuff that goes with bagels". Head into Russ on East Houston Street, where the pink and green neon sign and a couple of neon fish - salmon, I think - wink over the door. On one facet are glass-fronted counters that comprise golden-skinned, candy-fleshed, smoked whitefish, smoked mackerel, smoked sable, smoked sturgeon. There is home-made cream cheese and, behind the counter, the best bagels in town, additionally bialys and the onion rolls often called 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) are available to crowds who jam the store. But at the very coronary heart of the place is the lox and the nova. In New York, nearly everybody refers to smoked salmon as lox. Lox in reality is the cheaper, saltier, brined stomach salmon. Its extra aristocratic cousin, chilly-smoked salmon, usually comes from Nova Scotia but New Yorkers use the term nova, to check with all smoked salmon, except lox. At Russ, displayed in all their glory, is smoked salmon from Ireland, Scotland and Norway. There's 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 is a long way from the jap Himalayas to the peaks of wonderful slicing. And Sherpa did as soon as climb to inside six hours of Everest's peak. The most famous among them, in fact, 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 a hundred and twenty in eastern Nepal. Restless and formidable, he made his technique to Zarzi the place he labored with trekkers, made buddies with foreigners, bought himself into an English-language college 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 somebody talked about Russ & Daughters. A store manager now, Sherpa has been at Russ for a decade, where he works alongside Italians, Dominicans, Mexicans and Israelis. There are actually about 7,000 Nepalese in New York and roughly 2,000 Sherpas. In 1907, when Joel Russ arrived at Ellis Island, it was a protracted journey, but he got here, like thousands and thousands of others, in search of refuge and possibly somewhat slice of paradise. When, way back, the Sherpa tribe migrated from Tibet to Nepal, it is claimed they journeyed, first, seeking a Shangri-la. You would possibly think of Russ & Daughters as a primarily Jewish shop, but this is New York - everybody comes 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 only). Hear each day 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated by means of the day, additionally accessible to listen online. Read extra or discover the archive, external on the programme webpage, external. The BBC is just not answerable for the content material of exterior websites.