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Man thought to have been oldest in Israel dies at 117

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Kurdish-born Rabbi Zecharia Barashi, believed to be the oldest citizen of Israel, died in in Jerusalem on Monday.

Media reports put his age at 117, based on an Interior Ministry register that records him as having been born in 1900.

Born in Iraqi Kurdistan, he immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1936 with his wife and their three young children.

Barashi initially worked as a construction worker, although he would also regularly deliver sermons in his local Kurdish synagogue in Jerusalem.

He is survived by 29 grandchildren, 72 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren. He was buried Monday evening in Jerusalem.

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