Rabbi Jeffrey Summit's career showcases a variety of integrated interests, one of which earned him a Grammy nomination in 2004. Summit earned his Ph.D. from Tufts University in ethnomusicology, a field that "incorporates the study of music, those who make and perform it, how they make it, and what the production of music means in the context of a community," according to the Society of Ethnomusicology's Web site.
Summit's interest is on the construction of identity through music, especially in the Jewish tradition. He has also studied the workings of oral history, music and ritual, and the connection between spiritual experience and music. And it hasn't been a solo pursuit: Summit has involved Tufts Hillel and the local communities in his study of the Jewish tradition and music.
Himself an avid musician, Summit has performed traditional Jewish and American music around the globe. He released an album of his own music, "Shepherd of the Highways," in which he focused on his personal experiences performing during the Yom Kippur War.
"I always have music in my head," Summit says. "I'm a musician, I live music, and I once thought about pursuing music professionally. I decided to be a rabbi, but I have never been able to keep away from music."
Summit has received several distinguished awards for his published written works from the Society of Ethnomusicology and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
"What I love about ethnomusicology is that my work focusing on identity, music and prayer in the Jewish tradition overlaps with my rabbinic interests," he says.
Summit's most recent contribution to the musical world is a recording of the traditional music of an African community in Uganda called the Abayudaya (which means "Jewish people" in the native language). While their lyrics are similar to those of American Jewish songs, the music is derived from their African cultural heritage.
"The music of this African culture is extraordinary, and to be one of the first people to record their music is very exciting," Summit says. "I've been lucky to do really serious work to allow the world to hear it."
The album, entitled "Abayudaya: Music From the Jewish People of Uganda," was one of five nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Traditional World Music Album" in December of 2004. Summit believes that the recording "shows that the Jewish community is much broader than one might think."
"It comes in different colors and speaks different languages," he says.
But what about the Grammy Awards? "It was tremendous fun going to the Grammys, finding out who the winner was," Summit says, smiling.
Though the album did not win, its nomination raised recognition of the Abayudaya. "For the Abayudaya community, it raised the profile of their music," he says. "I've been committed to raising funds to send members of the community to university in Uganda, and all the money from the album supports their education."
Because more albums were sold after the nomination, more money was available to give to the community and further its members' educations.
Summit recently completed another project about music in historical Jewish culture. "I've studied the music of resistance during the Holocaust and developed a resource book for International Hillel about cabarets in ghettos and concentration camps," he says. He hopes that these cabarets will be performed in the near future at universities around the country.
Some of the information used in this article came from Tufts E-News and the Tufts Chaplaincy Web site.
