In this episode we hear tales of bravery by fearless Mountain Jews.

Morduk starts the Pesakh tales of exploits sought, of dangers braved, the conquests won, the heroes lost; these the topics of the night. Now first the tale of Saba Dov, his great great grandfather’s exploits, that mountain man like a great black bear who lived to roam on slope and ridge and serve his king as ranger scout.

In the days when Subutai and Jebe and their demon horde of cavalry came to Derbent, furious, lost, with their necklaces of human teeth and their long strands of human ears, one for every man they killed, demanding guides to take them north thru the mountains to Astrakhan, Saba Dov stepped up from the crowd.

“I can lead you thru these hills if you can sleep on beds of ice and shoot a crow as it soars and dives — there’s not much else to eat out there where armies before you all have frozen.”

Then and there that Subutai, before another........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)