Shmarya Yehuda Leib Medalia

Shmarya Yehuda-Leib Medalia (1872, Vegery, Lithuania – April 26, 1938, Moscow) was the chief rabbi of Moscow between 1933 and 1938.

Biography

Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)
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Rebbes of Chabad Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Alter Rebbe) Dovber Schneuri (Mitteler Rebbe) Menachem M. Schneersohn (Tzemach Tzedek) Shmuel Schneersohn (Rebbe Maharash) Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (Rebbe Rashab) Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (Rebbe Rayatz) Menachem M. Schneerson (the Rebbe)
Schneersohn family Chaim S. Z. of Liadi (1814–1880) Yitzchak Dovber of Liadi (1833–1910) Chana Schneerson (1880–1964) Chaya M. Schneersohn (d. 1860) Chaya M. Schneerson (1901–1988) Levi Y. Schneerson (1878–1944) Moshe Schneersohn (ca. 1784–before 1853) Sheina Horenstein (d. 1942) Shlomo Zalman Schneersohn (1830–1900) Shmaryahu Noah Schneersohn (1842–1924) Yehuda Leib Schneersohn (1808–1866)
Rabbonim Avraham Osdoba Chaim Gutnick Avraham Chaim Naeh Meir Ashkenazi Mordechai Ashkenazi Mordechai Gutnick Moshe Gutnick Pinhas Hirschprung Shneur Z. Fradkin Yaakov Schwei Yehuda K. Marlow Abraham Hecht Yitzchak Hendel Yosef Heller Yosef Y. Braun Zalman Dworkin Zelig Sharfstein Shmuel L. Medalia Shmarya Y. L. Medalia Sholom Rivkin
Mashpiim and scholars Aaron of Staroselye Herman Branover Yehuda Chitrik Manis Friedman Mendel Futerfas Yitzchak Ginsburgh Menachem Z. Greenglass Moshe Gutnick Moshe Havlin Zalman M. HaYitzchaki Aizel Homiler Simon Jacobson Yisroel Jacobson Yosef Y. Jacobson Yoel Kahn Abraham Y. Khein Yehoshua Mondshine Avraham C. Naeh Nissan Neminov Hillel Paritcher Ezra Schochet Adin Steinsaltz Shais Taub Shlomo Y. Zevin
Mazkirus and other leaders Leib Groner Jacob J. Hecht Chaim M. A. Hodakov Yehuda Krinsky Nissan Mindel Dovid Raskin Abraham Shemtov
Shluchim Menachem Brod Azriel Chaikin Shlomo Cunin Pinchus Feldman Gershon Garelik Yitzchok D. Groner Hanoch Hecht Gavriel Holtzberg Berel Lazar Shimon Lazaroff Chezki Lifshitz David Masinter Zalman I. Posner Menachem S. D. Raichik Aaron Raskin Arie Z. Raskin Shlomo Sawilowsky Mordechai Scheiner Abraham Shemtov Levi Shemtov Yehudah Teichtal Simcha Weinstein Manis Friedman
Other notable figures Shmuley Boteach Avraham Fried Benny Friedman Aharon Gurevich Joseph Gutnick Moshe Hecht Shea Hecht Bernard Levy Hendel Lieberman Michoel Muchnik Mendy Pellin Zvi Yair
Controversies Chabad messianism Chabad offshoot groups Barry Gurary Public menorah The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference
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Shmarya Yehuda-Leib Yankelevich Medalia was born to a family of Lubavitcher Hasidim. He was an alumnus of the original Slabodka yeshiva.

Between 1899 and 1903, he served as the rabbi of Tula, Russia; and between 1905 and 1917, in Vitebsk. In 1910 he participated in the All-Russian Rabbinic Congress. In 1912, he took part in the Agudat Israel congress in Katowice, Poland. Between 1927 and 1931, he again served in Tula. In 1933, he received the appointment to serve as the rabbi of the Choral Synagogue in Moscow. In 1938, he was accused in court of communicating with Lubavitcher rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and with German agents; also with corrupting the youth. Upon conviction, he was shot and buried in the common tomb in the Kommunarka proving ground.

Rabbi Shmaryahu's son Rabbi Hillel Medaliah was Chief Rabbi of Antwerp.

He was posthumously exonerated in twenty years. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who held the post of the rabbi of Moscow in 1991, presented the Choral Synagogue with a parokhet or ark curtain, in memory of Rabbi Medalia.