Valentine's Day Every Day

Chill out comment number 7, Miss know it all. Your comment sounds so arrogant!

So many points Lori was bringing out here. She is speaking to married or couples to remind them to express love everyday. The picture used here gives a clue of expressing love in practical ways, like fixing Breakfast with love. Lori is speaking to singles who may be alone on Valentines Day, and telling them don't get infused with the Holiday to bring depression or lack of self worth. Lori is also reminding the Jewish crowd that it's not a Jewish Holiday. The Jewish Holiday's is to bring the Jewish people in contact with our Jewish Spirituality. That is the only purpose for them, not to raise the economy is certain points through-out the year. When a Saint's Day has gotten on the calendar for the whole nation is celebrate, we know we are not in Israel. We are in the land of Greek influence of Goddess of Eros and the many others that represent Love. The meaning of Love in Judaism, is more than romantic Love. Valentine's Day in all the commercialism, the one and only focus is romantic love. This is not Judaism in aggregate of the expression of Love. Judaism include doing Mitzvahs for that loved one, that is defined by true love. Lori is not saying you can't express love through cards, chocolates and flowers; by giving spontaneously through-out the year. The act of spontaneously giving is received with gratitude and love more so through-out the year when it isn't manipulating couples and society that if you don't do this, the fights that come later, because of a day when recognizing a Saint's love are expected to follow in his footsteps on the day of his death. [St. Valentine is the Patron of Greetings, where sending greetings through cards comes from. The custom of sending valentines on this day is reviving an ancient pagan practice, which consisted in boys drawing the names of girls in honor of their goddess, Februata Juno, on Feb. 15. To abolish this practice names of Saints were substituted on billets drawn upon this day.] It's just not Jewish

LORI I FULLY AGREE WITH YOU 100% THESE SO CALLED HOLIDAYS ARE MADE FOR MONEY AND TO KEEP PEOPLE BROKE MY FATHER USED TO SAY THAT TO US WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN

great point, thank you for bringing out this point, i never thought about it this way-that its just another commercial day/

Sent all children SMS to tell them how much i love them and miss them. No special day, just a way to express "Happy Love".

I wouldn't hang around for a once a year show of love it wouldn't be love - just a show Love can't wait to give and give and do and do for the other as Jews we've been given simchas to fill our hearts' desires starting with our beloved weekly Shabbat - and hearing Eishet Chayil - and then more simchas why do we need to cheapen our lives and poison our kids with junk and red food colouring to keep alive the memory of ... whomever?! St Valentines or Thanksgiving or whatever, if it's not for us, that's all it is: not for us. Who is rich? he or she who is grateful with his/her lot. We have everything we need. Everything. Daily. Hourly.

what you are saying is so true!

How coincidental that your video came out today. One of my co-workers asked if my husband and I were doing anything special for Valentine's Day and I replied that if every day is not Valentine's Day in a marriage, then there is trouble! But, of course, I will be showering my husband with lots of yummy chocolates and a card filled with words of love. Even though it is not "our holiday" I still enjoy giving and receiving a beautiful card that expresses love and where I can add my own testament of love to my husband after almost 30 years. I remember around 12 or so years ago, it snowed at least a foot on V-Day. That morning, my husband was out shoveling his and my side of the driveway... "just in case of an emergency or whatever", he said. He knew that I was not going to go out, but, the mere fact that he took extra time from his morning to clear both sides illustrated the love he shows me every day. My friends received jewelry, but no one had a cleared driveway..."just in case".

very well said. I have always felt that way, but you said it better. everything has become so commercialized, it's all about getting you to to buy buy buy.

The disdainful tone of the comment about Carlton Cards made me wonder if Lori knows that Carlton is simply the Canadian name for American Greetings, whose founder is Irving Stone of Stone Chumash fame. He was a philanthropist toward Jewish education of the highest order, and the family continues in his path. Also, V. Day may not be Jewish, but the point that every day should be a loving day is something that could be said about our holidays, too--we should atone for our sins every day, for example--but it is important to have one day with that focus in mind. I know V. day is more trivial, but it can bring out the best in people and, while the Muslims have made a huge deal of forbidding it, I think we should be more respectful and give it the benefit of the doubt.

Hello Lori When you were a teen, you got into valentine's day. It was fine Now you're older, more mature, and can take a step back, and see the ridiculousness of some things. I wouldn't be so "preachy" to teens, who are into fun and friendship, and no so much into seriousness and introspection. When they are you're age , they can be more serious and reflective. Zei gazunt. eugeno aka yitzhak

Lori, While I agree with you that this is a day that has been commercialized over the years, and it was originally a Christian holiday, I have to say, there are many points in your argument that bother me. Ever since my daughters were little girls, I have used this day to make them feel special and loved, a day to look forward to. But it was just another chance for me to do something special, for them & my husband. There are so many people who feel left out because they don't get holiday cards, birthday cards, school awards etc. This doesn't mean no one should get these things. Yes, we should find something every day to make our family and friends and others feel loved, but, in the real world, this eludes us. We get busy and distracted. An occasional Mother's, Father's Day, birthday, anniversary, adds fun and color to our lives and reminds us to pick up the phone, send a card, buy a gift, give a hug..... I love Judiasm and the wisdom and compassion it teaches. I just think there are lots of ways to cherish our loved ones. We often call this day Heart Day. We brought giggles and smiles to my girls on this days over the years, along with every other reason we could think of or make up to make them feel special. They are proud Jews today, one was Bat Mitzvah in Germany, the other has made Aliya to Israel and is quite observant. It didn't hurt them any more than birthdays.

...so by this logic, since we should remember all G-d had done for us and thank Him every day, maybe we shouldn't do special things on certain days? I'm in agreement that Valentines Day isn't Jewish, but there are plenty of people who believe that kosher food is a monopoly, Pesach is an excuse to raise prices in Jewish food stores, Jews want a couple of holidays in the autumn when the weather's nice (why wait until snowy Dec 31) etc. If non-Jews want to celebrate a particular day for romantic love and/or friendship, that's not any of our business, any more than our holidays are any of theirs. And by the way, Valentines Day coincides with the mating of birds in Europe (with hatchlings to come in the spring) and with a legend of an early Christian martyr who, the story goes, fell in love with his jailer's daughter while awaiting trial and execution and wrote her little love notes that he signed "Your Valentine". Are we so insecure that we have to run other people's traditions down in order to build ourselves up?

I agree that people should express their love of each other, however, contrary Mrs. Platnick claimis, Valentines Day predates the various card companies. The Vicorians, those great lovers of romance were very involved in not only Valentines Day, they spent a great deal of time and energy making their own cards. And they were quite elaborate. And contrary to what she says, although the holiday was named in memory of a saint, I rarely see it advertised as such, it is usually simply called Valentine's Day. However, her point is well taken. we should remember tell our loved ones that we love them all the time, not just one day a year.

Even if it’s all about commercials we can use the opportunity to turn it into spiritual. That’s how it used to be through all Jewish history: before their arrival a place was dark and clumsy and when our ancestors came there they used to draw sparks of holiness out of darkness, elevating material to the level of spiritual; and not to the extent of diminishing any of 613 but to show the full glory of life… “All we need is love, Love is all we need!” Sages told us that we have to follow the rules of the place we live, that might be one of the secret of our survival… And though we have our own calendar, it is still adjustable to a regular one. Thanks for breaning it to our attention

When business was good I gave my wife a rose each day. Well, the economy tanked & my IRA is.... I drew a rose and gave it to my wife each day. I write notes/put a love letter in her purse/giive her my !.00 bills to put away. Well we get to go to paris not once but twice a mos the dollars add up. I only give the loose change to Starbucks II give my wife the dollar bills for paris with a love note. WELL OFF OR HARD PRESSED, ITS EASY TO SAY YOUR STILL MY BRIDE...DOC CONRAD AND CONSTANCE JOSEF

Lori did not say that it was or is a day invented by Hallmark, she actually said it was not: "...it is NOT such a Jewish day because it is another contrived day from the Hallmark Company or Carlton Cards (the card makers) to get us to buy stuff." In truth, SAINT Valentines day was created by the Catholic Church. So you are wrong when you claim that the "st." was removed BECAUSE it has nothing to do with the person of St. Valentine. It does. Just because you and not religious, secular, people view it differently (probably for the same reason they want G-d out of the Pledge and the dollar bill), it doesn't mean that the day was not about that. My advice to you: Learn more about why you do things in your life. Do you also celebrate xmas? Many people insist that it too is not a religious holiday but rather a secular one. And Lori is not saying that "going out of your way, one day a year, to remind your loved ones, in an extra way, that you love them" is negative or that you ignore them the rest of the year. (Though she DID point out that some feel that way when they only get attention on that day.) The message of the video is simple: Don't get caught up on the commercialism of ANY holiday, period. This would include Rosh Hashanah, et.al. Hmmm....should the coach should make you water boy?

This was so good and true, thank you. With words of wisdom one can never go wrong. Beautifully said.

Thank you so much for your videos on such a wide array of topics. I enjoy them. I do disagree with some of what you say in this one, however. First off: I do not celebrate Valentine's Day in any way, because it does have Christian origins--as you point out, it's named after SAINT Valentine. As for the other reasons given for not celebrating it: Yes, people SHOULD express love and appreciation for each other every day. That doesn't mean it's wrong to have one day a year where it's done extra or that by having a special day set aside for it, people won't express their love on the other days. For example, one of our main jobs on Rosh Hashana is to acknowledge and re-annoint Hashem as our king. Are we not supposed to respect, fear, and obey God every day? Of course we are. On each of our holidays we acknowledge something God did for us, and we take the time to remember, celebrate, and thank Him. Are we not supposed to always remember and appreciate these things? Of course we are. But God and our sages realized that humans benefit from having special days set aside on which we are supposed to more fully and intensely dedicate our thoughts, feelings, and actions to a certain idea. By having a day on which that one idea is such a major focus, it hopefully renews the intensity of our feelings and then spills over into the other days of the year. To me, that's the purpose of days like Mothers Day, Valentines Day, etc. Again, thanks for your wonderful heart-felt videos!

Sorry, but your info is wrong. Valentines predates Hallmark by at least 100 years!! I have some antique Valentines from the Civil War. No Hallmark then. And the "Saint" part was removed decades ago because it has nothing to do with the person of St Valentine. So strike two. And going out of your way, one day a year, to remind your loved ones, in an extra way, that you love them, is a plus, not a negative and does NOT mean that you ignore them the rest of the year. Strike three, Lori. You're out!

You give across a very good message. Thanks!

thank you lori for the great messeges you share with us. as someone responded before, thank you hashem that we do not feel valentines day as some kind of holiday in the holy land!

Rebbetzin Palatnik, thank you for reminding us Jews to be loving people more than one day a year. It's a shame, however, that I cannot follow your advice, "Every day you should send the text message to your loved ones" because I have a kosher cell phone. Something about a psak from this generation's gedolim. I do need to express more constantly to HaShem my deepest love and thanks for relocating me to Israel where February 14 is another glorious "ordinary" day in the Holy Land.

Great statement that love is for every day! Life is every day. Cheers!

Loving is NOT about thinking (texting, e-mailing, or sending cards). It is about doing for, and giving to, others. And even if it means thinking about someone else, texting and e-mailing don't require any thinking; afterall these are done during important business meetings, college classes, and even in the middle of our daily prayers. Loving is all about doing and giving (the root of the word AHAVAH means to give). That is why the Talmud describes the sages as DOING for the honor of Shabbos, not just saying "Shabbos, I love you." Don't SAY "I love you". Do something and let it be known.

Everyday in the Jewish World is Thanksgiving Day, as well as Mothers Day, Fathers Day,etc. I could not have said it better myself Lori. You hit the nail on the head.