Svika Pick gets life achievement award, but won’t pick up his prize

Pick is one of several veteran performers who will be honored for their individual and collective contributions to Israeli culture on stage and screen.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Svika Pick (photo credit: YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT)
Svika Pick
(photo credit: YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT)
A protracted illness will prevent singer and composer Svika Pick from picking up his life achievement award from the Union of Israeli Performing Artists, known by its Hebrew acronym as EMI.
Pick is one of several veteran performers who will be honored for their individual and collective contributions to Israeli culture on stage and screen. The others include Sasson Gabai, Tzipi Shavit, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alex Ansky, Moshe Efrati, Mike Burstyn, Zevik Schwartzbord and Boaz Sharabi.
The gala awards ceremony, within the framework of Israel’s 70th anniversary celebrations, will take place at the Petah Tikva Cultural Center on November 20. Burstyn will fly in from California for the occasion.
Pick, who is still recovering from an undisclosed illness for which he was hospitalized for several weeks, first abroad and then in Israel, has notified the organizers of his inability to attend.
EMI chairman Yankele Mendel’s response was that the applause for Pick will be so loud that he will be able to hear it at home, and it will be the best medicine he can get.