MOUNTAIN JEWS or TAT
(Own name: Djohur or Chufut)

A Caucasian people who live primarily in the urban centers of Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria Since the 1950s two thirds of all Jews have emigrated, nearly all to Israel. The wave of emigration has accelerated since the borders were opened in 1991. The name Tat derives from the language spoken, and Soviet and Russian statistics regularly enumerated both Jewish and Muslim Tat in one group.
The designation Mountain Jews derives from the fact that they, contrary to the other Jews, live among the mountaineers of the Caucasus. The names Djuhur and Chufut are two local varieties, Western and Eastern respectively, probably derived-through Turkish - from an Arab version of Jahud, i.e. Jew, or from an Iranian word for people of different faith.
Mountain Jews probably descend From Jews who immigrated or were transferred to the region from Persia in the fifth or sixth centuries with the objective of forming military colonies and defending the Transcaucasus against raids of nomads from the North.
They assimilated linguistically to Tat, a southwestern Iranian language. Many assimilated with the ruling Islamic classes in the North Caucasus. Others retained their religion, and until the Russian conquest contact with other Persian Jews was regular. Djuhur adapted themselves in many aspects to the cultures of their environment and were an integral part of Caucasian life.

Note: This information is taken from "The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads" written by Helen Krag and Larsh Funch.