rocicosim News

. PHOTOS BY JOHN OISCHER

Lila Orbach is
back home
and lighting
up the small
screen.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

_

ila Orbach has studied
in Israel and Germany,
worked in Baltimore
and Boston Lila Orbach shares the weekend anthor desk with WDIV's Dan Mountney.
and followed
"I started in television when I was 14," the WDIV re-
news stories to South Africa and
porter recalled. "I hosted the program 'Kids Are Peo-
Nicaragua.
ple, Too' for Channel 7 and won a Detroit Emmy for it.
Now, her life is more anchored.
"I found it extremely exciting to have a show at that
Besides winning the weekend anchor post at WDIV
age, so when it ended, I was very disappointed and
(Channel 4), Orbach is experiencing the anchor of again
wasn't sure I would ever get into television again.
living close to family and friends as she prepares to set-
"I decided I would go to school and learn as many
tle into marriage.
"I've bden communicating with WDIV for a long languages as I could, find out as much about the world
as I could and get as many degrees as I could and then
time," said Orbach, 33, who returned to Michigan af-
ter a 10-year absence. "Along the way, there were small- think about what I was going to do."
Orbach, who studied in Israel during her junior year
er offers, but the job or the time was never right.
"It's rare to get the chance to work in your home- in high school, graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood
town, so when the opportunity came up at the same School and earned a bachelor's degree from Kalama-
time I was planning my June wedding, the mix was zoo College, where her majors were political science
and German.
perfect."
She went on to get a master's degree in journalism
Orbach's career, which currently includes responsi-
bilities as WDIV's weekday health reporter, follows a from the University of Michigan and a master's degree
in political science from the University of Massachu-
family tradition of appearing before the public.
Mother Evelyn Orbach, artistic director of the Jew- setts through the University of Freiburg (Germany).
A reporter for the Ann Arbor News and The Detroit
ish Ensemble Theatre, also was on television; she did
a show for the Jewish Community Council called "High- Jewish News before employment at television stations
lights." Father Harold Orbach is the cantor at Temple in Cadillac, Flint, Baltimore and Boston, Orbach has
covered many dramatic events.
Israel.

"The Jewish News gave me a lot of autonomy to take
a story in any direction I wanted, and it was a great
background for me," Orbach said. "I learned about a
variety of interesting and wonderful people as I did gen-
eral assignment reporting."
Orbach uncovered a very memorable Jewish story
while in Nicaragua for the Ann Arbor News and was
able to write it exclusively for The Jewish News.
She found an abandoned synagogue that had become
a hideout for street children. As she looked through the
building to report on what had been left behind by the
congregants forced to move away, she went through
closets and cupboards.
"I opened one cupboard and screamed when a white
rat jumped out," Orbach recalled. was surprised when
the children stayed calm and later learned the rat was
their pet."
She considers the inauguration of Nelson Mandela
in Pretoria the most powerful event she ever covered.
Other assignments have introduced her to newsmak-
ers from Presidents Clinton and Bush to Vanna White.
"One of the perks of the job is getting to meet the peo-
ple everyone else talks about," Orbach said. "I also re-