Orbach was born in Petah Tikva, Israel. He attended a Hesder yeshiva, and did his national service in Israel Defense Forces in the IDF Armored Corps, where he served as a staff sergeant. He later worked as a journalist, producing columns for Yedioth Ahronoth and serving as a co-host for the Army Radio mid-morning show "The Last Word". He also wrote several children's books, including Donkeys on the Roof and Other Stories, and a dictionary of Religious Zionist slang, My Grandfather Was a Rabbi, as well as founding and editing the popular Israeli children's magazines Otiot and Sukariot.

Prior to the 2009 elections, he joined the Jewish Home. Following a split in the party, in which several members left to re-establish the National Union party, he was placed third on the party's list,^[1] and entered the Knesset as it won three seats. For the 2013 elections, he was placed sixth on the Jewish Home list,^[2] retaining his seat as the party won 12 seats. He was appointed Minister of Pensioner Affairs on 18 March 2013.

Orbach lived in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut with his wife and four children.

In January 2015, he took a leave of absence from politics for health reasons, to battle a chronic hematologic disease. In February 2015, his condition took a turn for the worse, and he died in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on 16 February 2015.^[3][4] His seat in the Knesset was taken by Hillel Horowitz.

• Uri Orbach on the Knesset website