He became a patron to numerous political figures, most notably he supported the career of Lyndon B. Johnson.

With the assistance of Rabbi Henry Cohen he made transit from Galveston to Dallas to meet his older brothers Louis and Sam who had arrived a year earlier.

When World War I broke out in Europe that year, scrap metal prices skyrocketed.

Secularized Jews, mostly from Germany, made up most of Austin's Jewish population at the time, belonging to Reform Congregation Beth Israel.

In 1943, while he and LBJ were raising $65,000 in war bonds from local Jewish businessmen, it is rumored that funds were also raised to aid underground Jewish fighters in Palestine with covert shipments of arms in crates labeled "Texas Grapefruit".

In 1958, as a personal representative of Texas Governor Price Daniel he met with Prime Minister David Ben Gurion in 1958 at the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel.

Jim Novy was involved in rescuing perhaps hundreds of people from Europe under Nazi suppression.

Armed with lots of cash and 42 blank visas, he helped restore the synagogue, established free loans to the needy, and he successfully got 42 people to America.

He and his friend Lyndon B. Johnson saved numerous people under Operation Texas, which Jim Novy helped fund.

Using open topped automobiles, four Torahs were transported from the old synagogue to the new state-of-the-art building, including one which was driven using LBJ's personal limousine.

But when Kennedy was assassinated that very same afternoon while riding through Dallas in an open car, LBJ immediately becoming president couldn't attend the dedication.

Remembering his promise to his friend Jim Novy, LBJ came to Austin on December 30, 1963 to dedicate the building.

[8] After the dedication, Novy was invited to the White House numerous times as a personal guest of LBJ.