TBS News and Information

As much as we may purchase cards, chocolates, and gifts for tomorrow, Valentine’s Day is not a Jewish holiday. There are many reasons that this is true, not the least of which is Valentine’s Day's association with a 3rd century Catholic saint. But that’s not to say that Judaism doesn’t value love.

The Hebrew root aleph-hey-vet, the basis of the verb ahav, “to love,” and the noun ahavah, “love,” appears over 250 times in the Hebrew Bible. We are taught, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) and “Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). Love also plays an important role in our prayerbook. The prayers just before the Shema, Ahavat Olam in the evening, Ahavah Rabah in the morning, speak of God’s deep and eternal love for us. The reading just after the Shema is V’ahavtah, commanding us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our might.

Rabbi Shai Held, one of the leading Jewish thinkers today, recently published Judaism is About Love, a magnificent book about the centrality of love in Jewish teaching. Jewish texts, he writes, “push us to love both more deeply and more widely. They help us understand what intimate relationships and families and communities require of us … they push us to love our neighbors … to see the world with eyes of love and generosity of spirit … they prod us to love the stranger, the outsiders … they invite us to cultivate compassion.” Love, says Rabbi Held is “the heart of Jewish life,” shaping and guiding our values and actions.

So, while the Jewish view of love might not incorporate candy hearts and cupids, it can play a vital role in understanding what we believe and what we do. Whether we are talking about our love for God, or God’s love for us, or our love for other human beings, may we always find that love is a valued and valuable part of our lives. And may we celebrate that love, not just tomorrow, but every day.

Shabbat Shalom