Rabbi Megdal was ordained by The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, earning her master’s degree in Talmud and Rabbinics and a Certificate in Applied Halakhah (Jewish Law). She is the recipient of the Ismar Elbogen Fellowship Memorial Prize in Talmud, the Joseph Zubow Memorial Prize in Codes (Jewish Law), and the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) Fellowship in Prophetic Halakhah.

Rabbi Megdal served for three years at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan, the largest LGBTQ synagogue in the world, most recently in a fellowship specializing in pastoral care and education. She also completed a chaplaincy rotation at MJHS Hospice, and served as Rosh Tefillah at Camp Ramah in the Poconos.

In her previous career, she earned her J.D. at Yale Law School, clerked for a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York, and worked in litigation and international arbitration at a Manhattan law firm. She was Managing Editor of The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism and worked on an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit in the case that brought marriage equality to California (which became Hollingsworth v. Perry before the U.S. Supreme Court). She also worked in civil rights impact litigation at Lambda Legal; researched gender in the military; and in family law, helped low-income clients struggling with issues of domestic violence and child custody.

Rabbi Megdal graduated from The University of Chicago as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Student Marshal, with a degree in History and Gender Studies. She taught a workshop on sexual assault for South Side public schools and facilitated an oral history project on the experience of women at the University. Her thesis, ‘Be Fertile and Increase’: The Regulation of Marriage, Divorce, and Personal Status in Israel, was nominated for best thesis in International/European History.

While living in Jerusalem for a year of seminary, she was actively involved in the Jerusalem Open House, both as a researcher for its Oral History Project and as a member of the women’s discussion group. She also participated in the T’ruah Year-in-Israel Program.

Rabbi Megdal lives with her partner, Karen, and loves teaching about animal care using Jewish texts.