Newman was known for his progressive views, his involvement in the Zionist Revisionist movement, and his prolific writing, which included books on Jewish history, theology, and identity.

[2] In 1921, he became rabbi of Temple Israel in New York City and was appointed to the faculty of the Jewish Institute of Religion (JIR) when it was founded the following year.

[I]t was Newman's proposal, published in the Jewish Tribune, which inexplicably garnered the attention and raised the eyebrows of American Jewry.

[He] had firsthand knowledge of the Jewish quota, having attended Brown University at a time when the school's administration imposed "limitations in the enrollment of Jews and Negroes."

... Newman worried about the very practical problem that, as a result of limited educational opportunities, American Jews were in jeopardy of being further rejected from "higher spheres of the professions and commerce".

In 1945, Newman was recruited by Rabbi Israel Goldstein, to join a group of men to consider the possibility of opening a Jewish university in Waltham, Massachusetts, some ten miles northwest of Boston.

He also compiled and translated the classic work The Hasidic Anthology, Tales and Teachings of the Hasidim: The parables, folk-tales, fables, aphorisms, epigrams, sayings, anecdotes, proverbs, and exegetical interpretations of the Hasidic masters and disciples; their lore and wisdom (1934, 1968, 1972), which has become a standard textbook for courses in Jewish studies.