Women’s Equality
Kavannah Honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, z”l, the day after her death on Rosh Hashanah 5781, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah - Sept 19, 2020
May her memory be for a blessing.
May her memory be for a revolution.
Rabbi Megdal davening at the Kotel with Women of the Wall.
During her year living in Jerusalem (2017-2018), Rabbi Megdal was an active member of Women of the Wall, fighting against discrimination in access to public religious space at the Kotel in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Megdal holding up a tallit during Torah reading at the Kotel with Women of the Wall.
Animal Care
Animal Care - Noach Drash - Oct 23, 2020
"In Isaiah’s vision, the absence of evil is epitomized by non-violence between all living beings. I challenge us all to ask ourselves, tonight, but also continuously throughout our lives, how can we bring our world closer to this ideal of the World to Come? And we have to prepare ourselves, because our most honest answer to this question may involve personal sacrifice — the most important moral commitments usually do."
Bringing Down the Shechinah - Jewish Veg Dvar Torah - Dec 13, 2020
“All of our words, and all of our work, and all our everyday choices — all have the potential to bring down the Shekhinah, to bring down the presence of holiness.”
Jewish Veg is a national organization that advocates for embracing a plant-based diet as an expression of Jewish values. (JewishVeg.org)
Jewish Veg
LGBTQ Pride
“There is still time for Pride, even in a pandemic. Pride and humility are not mutually exclusive, and they can both be deep wellsprings of hope. And we are still Korach’s grandchildren, a people of rebellion with a long-fought and hard-won pride. If we can live out our inheritance of both Stonewall and the Exodus from Egypt — then we can foster in ourselves the capacity for rainbow rebellions that light up the world.”
Celebrating Pride with CBST is a core spiritual practice.
Interfaith Dialogue
Rabbi Megdal was a regular clergy lead for CBST’s House of Peace initiative, which fosters interfaith dialogue and relationships in the face of persistent anti-Muslim rhetoric. For years before COVID, she and other CBST members stood in welcome at the Islamic Center at NYU to greet worshippers attending Friday Jummah prayers, and prepared Iftar meals during the month of Ramadan. After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018, in a beautiful display of mutual support and respect, the ICNYU community stood outside CBST and handed out roses before our Shabbat services.
Czech Torah Scrolls
In a poignant opportunity to connect with her family’s Eastern European history, Rabbi Megdal joined a procession of delegates carrying a Czech Holocaust scroll originating from the town of Kladno in 1800 held in sacred trust at CBST. The February 2019 procession gathered more than 50 Holocaust Torah scrolls from around the United States, all of which were rescued from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War.
