Dalya Attar-Mehrzadi is an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bic ...

who currently serves in the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

. Delegate Attar represents the 41st Legislative District of the state of Maryland, which is located in northwest Baltimore City.

Biography

Early years

Attar was born and raised in Baltimore City in a working-class immigrant family. She is a

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Orthodox Jew Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

born to an Iranian-Jewish father and a Moroccan-Jewish mother. She studied at a

Bais Yaakov Bais Yaakov ( he, בית יעקב also Beis Yaakov, Beit Yaakov, Beth Jacob or Beys Yankev; lit., House fJacob) is a genericized name for full-time Haredi Jewish elementary and secondary schools for Jewish girls throughout the world. Bais Yaak ...

School for Girls.

Career

In 2011 she graduated from the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt's schools and colleges provide education in business, law, public affairs, and the applied arts and sc ...

earning a Bachelor of Criminal Justice degree. In 2014, three years later, she graduated from the Francis King Carey School of Law at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. Afterward, she worked as a prosecutor at the Baltimore State's Attorney office. On November 4, 2018, Attar became the first Orthodox Jew elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and the highest-ranking Orthodox Jewish woman in American history. Along with Cheryl Kagan, Attar has co-sponsored legislation to help

agunot An ''agunah'' ( he, עגונה, plural: agunot (); literally "anchored" or "chained") is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by ''halakha'' (Jewish law). The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey ...

women by preventing a husband from having a civil divorce unless they grant their wife a

get Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...

Family

Attar is the fourth of six siblings,The Sephardi millennial serving as Maryland's first Orthodox legislator

Jewish Insider ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. ''The Journal'' wa ...

is married to Asaf Mehrzadi, and they have two children together, Ilana, and Aaron.

Notes

1990 births 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American feminists American Sephardic Jews American Mizrahi Jews American people of Iranian-Jewish descent American people of Moroccan-Jewish descent American politicians of Iranian descent American politicians of Moroccan descent Jewish American state legislators in Maryland Jewish women politicians Living people Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Mizrahi feminists Sephardi politicians Women state legislators in Maryland {{Maryland-politician-stub