A Tribute to Frank Korczukowski

by Arthur Sandman
Associate Executive Vice President, UJC MetroWest

This has been a dark week for staff at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ. We lost a colleague and a dear friend, Frank Korczukowski, our Director of Community Facilities. Frank was Christian, a devout man committed to his church.

People like Frank — and I’ve known a few — pose a real challenge to those of us who think we know what a Jewish communal professional is. We do not usually think of facilities managers as Jewish communal professionals — theirs is a trade that can be plied in almost any setting. We do not usually think of Christians as Jewish communal professionals — we presume that a deep commitment to Jewish purpose stems from our genes. But Frank was one of those people who made brilliantly clear to all that he was not just an employee of a Jewish organization, not just a staff colleague and friend. Frank made clear that the purpose of our endeavor was dear to him. As our facilities manager dating from before our community campus in Whippany was completed, he was very proprietary about our buildings and grounds — that’s no surprise. But if you wanted to know what it means to a community to create a place for community, you had to ask Frank to talk about the opening day on campus. You may worry about Jewish security, but Frank worried about our safety more than we. And to hear Frank talk about our mission — at a staff campaign event or meeting, or just catching him on the fly — was to know that the vibrancy and well-being of Jewish life was sacred to him.

In the changing realities of our profession, where we see more people coming in and out of our field based on their particular skill sets but fewer who commit to a career of Jewish communal service, we need to be wary of losing our identity as a profession and our soul. In a more open modern society amid laws guaranteeing equal employment opportunity, we ought to wonder about how our field and institutions might change if committed Jews do not present themselves for employment in disproportionate number. I worry about these issues.

But then there was Frank. I don’t know what makes a Jewish communal professional exactly. But I know one when I see one. Frank was, and we were blessed to have him in our profession.

This has been a dark week for us at United Jewish Communities. On Shabbat, as we read Parashat Bereishit, I will be listening for God to deliver his very first command once more — for us. . .

Yehi ohr.

Let there be light.

(This appreciation was previously published in the New Jersey Association of Jewish Communal Service Weekly Update, October 15, 2009.)