This Fourth of July, Needham Looks Back and Uplifts Values

July 1, 2026
• In a “culminating civic ritual of renewal,” faith leaders led the community through historical documents and reflections before the nation’s birthday.

Ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday, and the longstanding local traditions tied to the holiday, about 50 people joined in song and contemplation about U.S. history and progress Tuesday evening at Town Hall.

The goal of the gathering was “to focus on lifting up and reaffirming our values,” said Rabbi Jay Perlman of Temple Beth Shalom, who led the session. As the Fourth of July approaches, he said it “reminds us why we celebrate and what’s to come.”

“As a Needham community,… we recognize that America’s semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of our nation, is a perfect opportunity for us not just to turn inward to think about our values, but to turn outward towards one another,” Perlman said, “to come together as neighbors, neighbors that perhaps don’t necessarily know one another.”

The convergence served as the fifth and final session of the America@250 program. Organized by Needham clergy members, the series encouraged participants to examine historical documents tied to the country’s founding before its 250th anniversary. The program, which began in May, followed guidelines from faith250, a nationwide initiative.

Reverends, poets, community leaders, faces both familiar and fresh, sat in a circle, wearing American flag name tags. During the program, they exchanged introductions and their own hopes and wishes for Needham’s future.

A ritual of renewal, as Perlman explained, provides an opportunity “to lift up a value or ideal” and “reaffirm what we stand for.”

Facilitators recited poems and offered reflections accrued throughout the previous four program sessions. Perlman’s wife Emily led participants in song, including “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan and “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” an excerpt from “The New Colossus” that is inscribed within the Statue of Liberty.

In addition to “The New Colossus,” Needham program participants also discussed Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” as well as “America the Beautiful” and the Declaration of Independence, the founding document signed on July 4, 1776. Groups previously wrote value statements in connection to such documents.

“At our best, this country remains a beacon of hope, and we need to remind ourselves of how we are meant to welcome the tired and poor and huddled masses who are making their way through the golden door of opportunity,” one group wrote.

“Can we be brave enough to face our own hypocrisy and listen to other people’s uncomfortable stories?” another asked, in response to Douglass’s work.

In their final program session, Powers Hall assumed a subdued tone, but one of hope and gratitude, particularly for their neighbors and local community. Participants rose to form a circle, holding each other’s backs and shoulders as Perlman shared a message of unity.

They also left for the evening with their own community blessing, written on index cards containing seeds to be planted.

Marlene Schultz, a member of the Needham Human Rights Committee, who co-hosted the event, called the ceremony “amazing.” The HRC’s goal, dictated by the United Nations’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, aligns with the country’s founding principles, Schulz said, such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“It’s a very meaningful, very powerful, non-partisan way for our community to come together,” Schultz said after the celebration, “and I look forward to celebrating this great country.”

Poet Laureate Anne Nydam read two of her own poems: “If Unity Is…” and “Home, Needham 2025.” The last stanza of the former reads:

When we uphold that patriot dream of liberty and justice for all,
Having learned that abundance embraced is abundance shared,
When we stand not in uniformity but in unity,
Let our beacon dreams guide us forward, from sea to shining sea,
From soul to shining soul.

Themes of brotherhood and hope emerged for Bala Venkat, a lead facilitator with the Needham Resilience Network, who also co-hosted America@250. Venkat recited “The Hill We Climb,” a poem by Amanda Gorman, with Rev. Nick Morris-Kliment.

The programs, Venkat said, “sparked so many wonderful conversations.”

“I am inspired and in awe of the energy of the people who attended,” she said. “There was so much love and sense of community.”

Needham’s Independence Day festivities start with fireworks the evening of July 3, followed by the annual parade the morning of July 4. Across town, American flags — some on flag poles, others planted in front yards and along fence lines — wave all summer.

For the nation’s semiquincentennial, the local traditions strike greater significance for some Needhamites.

“There is no place better than Needham on the Fourth of July,” Schultz said.

“It’s important for us to be value-inspired,” Perlman said in an interview. “[July 4th] reminds us why we celebrate and what’s to come.”