ON A CHARIOT OF FIRE: THE STORY OF INDIA’S BENE ISRAEL (Levine Querido, 2024), a new picture book by Erica Lyons, gorgeously illustrated by Siona Benjamin, follows a grandmother’s account as she tells her granddaughter of the origins of the Bene Israel community, who fled war in Israel two thousand years ago. They faced a long journey by sea, ultimately and unexpectedly arriving in India. ON A CHARIOT OF FIRE is a thoughtful and inspiring story of perseverance, faith, and community. Welcome back, Erica!
ON A CHARIOT OF FIRE tells the story of the Bene Israel community in India. Can you tell me a bit about your connection to this community?
I’ve lived in Asia since 2002. One of the organizations that I’ve been very active in has been the Jewish Historical Society, which I now chair. We work to help preserve our community’s history as well as, more broadly, history connected to our community. This includes the history of greater China and India as well as other countries. I even co-led a historical society trip to Mumbai as well as trips to Cochin and Calcutta. The Jewish history of Hong Kong is intertwined with theirs in that the Sassoon family, who founded our community, first settled in Mumbai after leaving Baghdad as well as many other connections.
During the 2008 attack in Mumbai, my community came together, in the JCC, to support one another as we watched the events unfold in real time. Every one of us in the room had a deep connection to Mumbai. Some of us had spouses there at that moment. Others had recently traveled there ourselves. Having grown up in New Jersey, my Jewish neighbors were the next town over. The tragedy of the 2008 attacks reminded me that Jews in Mumbai were my Jewish neighbors.
In Asia, we all live in small pockets of Jewish life here with connections that run deep. I knew I needed to make light from the darkness of the Mumbai attacks and to help better connect our communities so I founded the magazine Asian Jewish Life – a journal of spirit, society, and culture. That’s actually how I met Siona! I first covered her work in about 2011. The magazine also aimed to change people’s perceptions about who Jews are, what we look like, and where we hail from. It became my job (and my passion) to know the Jewish history of the various communities in Asia, including the Bene Israel, and to be able to accurately represent them.
Additionally, I’ve been the World Jewish Congress Hong Kong representative for years and I convinced a Bene Israel friend take their seat on the Congress and attend meetings with me and I also worked as a regional consultant for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
But bigger picture, the history of the Bene Israel is part of the tapestry that is Jewish history. We may have been scattered to the four corners of the earth, but we all started our story in the same place.
What is the Malida ceremony you write about in the book?
While there are other Jewish groups in India, Malida is a ceremony that is unique to the Bene Israel. A dish of sweetened flattened rice, spiced with cardamom and fruits is prepared. The dish, like the ceremony, is also called Malida. Coconut and dates are added and it’s decorated with flowers. It’s eaten for any auspicious occasion from a marriage henna ceremony to a bar mitzvah to a new job to a housewarming. Blessings are recited and then the dish is shared.
It’s performed as a way of giving thanks to Eliyahu HaNavi who the community has a special connection to. As in On a Chariot of Fire, Malida is performed at the site of Eliyahu HaNavi’s visit, but also in homes and community centers, wherever people gather.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Siona Benjamin. What were your thoughts when you first saw Siona’s illustrations?
While I knew her style because I had highlighted her work in Asian Jewish Life and we had talked about this book long before it materialized, I still couldn’t believe how beautiful the illustrations for this book are and the deep emotions they evoke. I frame a piece of art from each of my books. With On a Chariot of Fire, I want them all!
I imagine you did a lot of research for this book. Were there any interesting discoveries that didn’t make it into the book?
I didn’t do much research for this specific book because this has been my focus for many years. I’ve been publishing stories about the Jews of India for about 15 years and writing articles as well. More recently, I authored a chapter in the book Growing Up Jewish in India, ed. Ori Z. Soltes, Niyogi Press, 2021. The chapter served to connect Bene Israel history and more broadly the Jewish history of India to the history of Jews throughout the Far East. I’ve been to these places and heard these stories first hand from people who were told them by their ancestors. Research is important, but breathing and tasting history and being able to touch it is another.
There were so many other stories from this community and parts of their history that didn’t make it in. They weren’t new discoveries but things that I would have loved to tell, but when you’re working with a word count of 800 words or so, you have to save some things for future projects!
What do you hope young readers take away from the story?
For many years, I’ve been working towards helping people to broaden their understanding of where Jews are from and what we look like. We’re not a monolith. We’re a family with many diverse branches. We have stories that we share and also stories with cultural specificities that are unique to different parts of the diaspora.
I also hope that young readers take away the idea that we are our stories. Origin stories, such as the one told in On a Chariot of Fire, is what makes our culture unique and special. Wherever readers are from and whatever their faith is, there are stories from the past that are very much a part of their identity today. Learn them and cherish them.
This is a busy year for you. Would you like to give us a sneak peek into your other new books?
Thanks, Barbara!
In May 2024, Saliman and the Memory Stone was published by Behrman House. It was illustrated by an incredible Yemenite Israeli illustrator, Yinon Ptahia. Saliman and the Memory Stone is inspired by a true story of a boy who was part of the 1881 aliyah from Yemen to Jerusalem.
And in September 2024, just one week after the publication of On a Chariot of Fire, Mixed-Up Mooncakes is out. I co-authored Mixed-Up Mooncakes with my friend, Christine Matula. It’s illustrated by Tracy Subisak and published by Quill Tree. It’s the story of a girl named Ruby who must find a way to celebrate both Sukkot and Mid-Autumn Festival when they fall on the same night.
Thank you, Erica!
Erica Lyons is a Hong Kong-based children’s book author who loves creating stories from the footnotes of history books. She is the chair of the Hong Kong Jewish Historical Society and the Hong Kong Delegate to the World Jewish Congress. She is the founder and director of PJ Library Hong Kong and of Asian Jewish Life, a journal of spirit, society, and culture. She is the mother of five children and two cats.