DRAMATIC
Cantor Harold
and Evelyn
Orbach share
a love for the
stage, but
from different
perspectives
VICTORIA BELYEU DIAZ
Special 713 The Jewish News
Cantor Harold Orbach
Evelyn Orbach
hen Harold
Orbach sings, everybody listens. And
why not? He's had plenty of practice
as Temple Israel's cantor and on
stage, in Israel, throughout Detroit
and on TV and radio.
lb celebrate his career, Temple
Israel will honor him this weekend on
the occasion of his 25th anniversary
at the temple.
The festivities will begin this
morning with a nursery school Shab-
bat program, include a junior choir
party after services Saturday and
culminate with a concert Sunday at
7:30 p.m., which will feature perfor-
mances by Arthur Thompson of the
Metropolitan Opera and young people
from the area whose careers in the
cantorate and in music Cantor Or-
bach has helped to nurture.
On a recent morning, Orbach and
his wife, Evelyn, took time out at
their home in Bloomfield Hills to talk
about themselves, the upcoming
,
42
Friday, May 15, 1987
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
celebration, and their quarter-
The family, reunited in England,
century love affair with Detroit and sailed for America on a Dutch ship in
Temple Israel.
1940.
New Yorkers who came to the
Cantor Orbach's grandparents —
Detroit area via a small congregation though, he says, they had a chance to
in Tulsa, Okla., the Orbachs say they leave - chose to stay behind in
were probably more surprised than Dusseldorf and all later perished in
anyone to find themselves here, back the Holocaust.
in 1962.
Orbach's early years in New York,
"Actually, Detroit was probably on especially in school and in his rela-
the bottom of my list of places where tionships with other children, are not
I wanted to be back then;' Cantor Or- the source of many fond memories, he
bach, 56, confesses. "Rabbi Syme (of says. While he had been a top student
Temple Israel) had seen me sing at in Germany, he spoke very little
some conventions around the country, English when he arrived in New
and had suggested several times that York, and was almost immediately
I come here. But I'd always think, 'Oh, dropped a grade or two. "I had a terri-
come on. Detroit?' "
ble time in school," he recalls. (Later,
Rabbi Syme was a persistent sort, he would skip several grades and
though, and, after a time, Orbach had eventually graduate early.)
to admit that, the more he considered
"I had trouble in terms of ad-
the move, the more sense it seemed to justing, and especially in terms of my
make. After all, Temple Israel did ap- relationships with other children. I
pear to exactly fit the picture of his spent more time with adults than I
own "dream congregation": It was did with children. In fact, probably
relatively young, it was located in a that led, to some extent, to my rela-
well-organized Jewish community tionships within the synagogue,
and the rabbi (himself a cantor) because I always received a lot of
shared his love of music.
warmth and love and more accep-
Finally, he decided to give it a try. tance there than I did within the
Now, approaching his silver an- school or the neighborhood."
niversary here, he is glad he did.
After graduation, Cantor Orbach
"That decision was a very, very good attended Juilliard School of Music on
decision," he says.
a scholarship awarded through the
Orbach was born in Dusseldorf, Metropolitan Opera. After marriage
Germany, and lived there with his to Evelyn in 1951, he received a
parents, an older brother and grand- degree in Sacred Music and Educa-
parents until he was 9. His father was tion from Hebrew Union College, and
a cantor who also worked as an went on to do graduate study at the
importer.
Manhattan School of Music, shortly
before
serving a two-year stint in the
"I remember many things about
my life there," he says. "I remember U.S. Army.
"When I came out of the army, I
my synagogue. I remember Kristall-
had
an idea of wanting a small con-
nacht. I remember the day (the
gregation.
But all I was offered were
Gestapo) came to get my dad, to take
him to Dachau. He and I were play- congregations with over 1,000
families.
ing ping-pong together at the time.
Eventually, Cantor Orbach and
"A family from England who had
befriended my parents on a vacation his wife would make a tour of the
trip in 1936 was later responsible for country, and end up in Tulsa.
"Ten oilmen wanted to buy
seeing that my brother and I were
Evelyn
and me for the congregation
placed on a Hebrew Immigrant aid
Society (HIAS) list of people who were as a gift for three years. We made a
to be brought out of the war zone deal, and (eventually) spent six
when Germany went to war with glorious years there."
Poland. They also helped my mother
Since his arrival in Detroit, he
get out and we were able, through says he has witnessed "dynamic"
bribery and other things, to eventual- changes, especially in the Reform
ly get my father out of Dachau."
movement.