He delivered the Founder's Day address at Hebrew Union College in 1935, and in 1937 he became a member of its board of governors.
An active member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), he served as vice-chairman of the Social Justice Commission, chairman of the Committee on Synagogue Music from 1937 to 1940, and vice-president from 1939 to 1941.
In the 1942 CCAR convention, he helped secure the adoption of a resolution that favored the creation of a Jewish division to fight in World War II, which led the anti-Zionist parts of the Reform movement to create the American Council for Judaism.
[3] Following the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman chose him to serve with a select group of clergy to tour Europe and report on the status of post-war refugees.
He was president of the Labor Zionist Organization of America, chairman of the United Jewish Appeal in 1945, and an executive committee member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
He retired as rabbi of the Isaac M. Wise Temple in 1952, at which point he became executive director of the Development Corporation of Israel.