Always on the GoRose Bilbool was born on December 9, 1909 and died on March 15 at the age of 102. Until a year and a half ago, say relatives and friends, her mind was functioning well, although there were occasional weak periods. In 2010 she was still being driven down to Jericho once a week by a family friend, Yona Lavi. Since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, Israelis were no longer permitted to enter the town itself, which meant Rose was cut off from her laboratory. But she would meet her Palestinian assistant, Khaled Riad, at the edge of town and transfer ingredients for the creams that she kept in two deep freezers at home.Riad, whom she had hired as a young man, would mix and package the creams, handing over the finished products at Rose’s next visit. A distributor would pick them up from her home.Such was Rose’s good cheer and zest for life that she would receive marriage proposals well into her 80s from elderly men who had read about “the papaya lady” or seen her in television clips. The last proposal Rose received was when she was 92, as far as her daughter can recall.I drove with her to Jericho for the last time when she was 91. It was after the first rains and the hills were tufted green. Halfway down, a flock of sheep bounded down a slope. She had driven that road almost every day for 30 years yet she looked about her with a smile of wonderment, as if seeing it for the first time. “The desert changes every day,” she said.The writer is author of a revised edition of The Battle for Jerusalem, just published as an eBook on Amazon.abra@netvision.net.il
The rose of Jericho
Also known as the papaya lady, Rose Bilbool, who died recently at the age of 102, was talented and resourceful.
Always on the GoRose Bilbool was born on December 9, 1909 and died on March 15 at the age of 102. Until a year and a half ago, say relatives and friends, her mind was functioning well, although there were occasional weak periods. In 2010 she was still being driven down to Jericho once a week by a family friend, Yona Lavi. Since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, Israelis were no longer permitted to enter the town itself, which meant Rose was cut off from her laboratory. But she would meet her Palestinian assistant, Khaled Riad, at the edge of town and transfer ingredients for the creams that she kept in two deep freezers at home.Riad, whom she had hired as a young man, would mix and package the creams, handing over the finished products at Rose’s next visit. A distributor would pick them up from her home.Such was Rose’s good cheer and zest for life that she would receive marriage proposals well into her 80s from elderly men who had read about “the papaya lady” or seen her in television clips. The last proposal Rose received was when she was 92, as far as her daughter can recall.I drove with her to Jericho for the last time when she was 91. It was after the first rains and the hills were tufted green. Halfway down, a flock of sheep bounded down a slope. She had driven that road almost every day for 30 years yet she looked about her with a smile of wonderment, as if seeing it for the first time. “The desert changes every day,” she said.The writer is author of a revised edition of The Battle for Jerusalem, just published as an eBook on Amazon.abra@netvision.net.il