“I’m sure he wasn’t alone,” jokes Jay M. Harris, Wolfson professor of Jewish studies, who claims there is a great Jewish tradition of falling asleep during prayer.

Snoozing aside, Summers has been actively involved in his faith, say those who know him.

Since 1993, he has been a member of Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C., a 1,500-household Reform synagogue that has been called the nation’s most powerful congregation—its members include “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel, New York Times bureau chief Michael Oreskes and Harvard’s Marvin Kalb, executive director of the Shorenstein Center for Press and Public Policy’s Washington office.

Fred N. Reiner, senior rabbi at Temple Sinai, says one of Summers’ biggest contributions to the synagogue was his keynote speech two years ago at an annual Shabbat service celebrating Sinai House, a temporary shelter for homeless families. He also noted that Summers attended High Holy Day services while he was Secretary of the Treasury.

“He came to some of the services that we have which not everybody comes to,” Reiner says. “I certainly got the feeling that his membership was important to him, that Judaism was important to him.”

According to friends, Summers has done his best to make sure his children grow up in the Jewish tradition, as well.

Summers enrolled his twin daughters in Temple Sinai’s nursery school during the school’s first year of existence and sent his son there the following year, says Perri B. Iger-Silversmith, the school’s director.

Family friend Pam Brown says the importance Summers places on faith is evident in the life he leads.

“As with most of my peers who are Jewish, their actions speak for their faith,” Brown said. “The fact that his children and family are immersed in this community says it all.”

Harris doubts that Summers’ religion will make much of a difference for Jewish life on campus.

“If he were hanging out at Hillel all the time, I suppose that would make things more interesting,” Harris says.

According to Freedman—who plans to attend today’s installation—Summers should not feel overly pressured to be visible within the Jewish community.

However, the milestone is not insignificant, Freedman says, given the history of anti-Semitism at Harvard and throughout the Ivy League.

Former President Derek C. Bok views Lowell’s attempt to establish a Jewish quota as an aberration in Harvard’s history, calling it “one unfortunate venture that got nowhere.”

Yet prejudice against Jews persisted, according to former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, who has said that he was startled by the anti-Semitic nature of Harvard’s social life when he arrived in 1958.