I knew a fair amount of Jewish people who also didn’t celebrate v day, so I don’t think it’s totally uncommon.
Not in Australia, where both the posters you quoted are from, no.
Yo.
I don’t know any Orthodox Jews who DO participate in Valentine’s Day (or Halloween, for that matter).
Well, Orthodox Jews are pretty rare to most of us in America (less than 20% of the American Jewish population, which itself is less than 3% of the total US population).
No.
If each child gives one to every other child in the class, it doesn’t sound like it has much to do with friendship.
[Sorry, can’t figure out how to use the multiple quote thingie] :mad:
About Halloween, non-orthodox Jews go with the flow among Americans, although the day for costuming, role reversal, and general foolery is Purim, the day in memory of the Jews being rescued for the umpti-umpth time by God (book of Esther). As for Valentine, super-orthodox Jews won’t even think about it, similar to all goyish holidays
But a question raised above, which I still (genially) bicker about with my wife: if Valentines Day cards are about romantic affection, why do people send them to their parents or siblings? Or is that just her take? (I don’t like to, but every year I give in.)
Apparently in India, orthodox Hindus get upset about Valentines day because they feel it is associated with sexual promiscuity or inappropriate gender relations. But I’ve never met a Hindu in the US who objects to Valentine’s day like this (but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened).
I’m a Hindu, and I’m pissed off about Valentine’s day because I have nobody to smooch. 
When I was a little kid in the 50s, we all bought bags of cheap valentines for our classmates, and a nicer one for the teacher. The cards were all about holding hands and puppy love, and we exchanged the little heart candies, and there was nothing “romantic” about it at all. And absolutely nothing religious. We were Jewish, and I never heard of a Jewish kid not participating. I can’t imagine anyone seriously considering this a religious holiday. Or Halloween, for that matter.
Nah, it’s more like a Universal Friendship Day of some kind. Mind you, this everybody-gives-to-everybody custom is comparatively recent in most American schools, AFAIK. Students used to give valentines only to their preferred recipients, often putting them in a common box for distribution by the teacher (which also allowed for anonymous valentines, sweet or sour as the case might be). Then the unpopular kids with no valentines would see the popular kids with deskfuls of valentines and not feel particularly chipper about it. So now everybody gives valentines to everybody.
For some Orthodox Jews, AIUI, it’s not so much about Valentines Day (or Halloween, or Thanksgiving) being an explicitly religious holiday as it is about a more general prohibition on imitating the customs of Gentiles when there’s no good reason for it.
That is, you can vote on Election Day (unless it’s Shabbat) and go to the neighborhood block party (if you don’t eat non-kosher food there) and generally live like your non-Jewish neighbors insofar as it’s consistent with Jewish law. But it would be wrong, according to this view, to treat any such practice as any sort of obligatory observance or ritual duty: it’s not allowed to establish anything like a self-imposed commandment in addition to (or in competition with) all the ones currently in effect. And anything that seems like a ritual observance that has its roots in a non-Jewish religious tradition is particularly suspect.
I’ve always loved the conversation hearts, and how they’ve adapted to the times with text messages and such, but I am boycotting them this year.
I just…can’t. 
Maybe next year…
p.s. Valentine’s Day is about affection, that’s all. Doesn’t HAVE to be romantic; that’s just Hallmark and DeBeers talking.
It still does to some extent. You’re just being encouraged to be at least nominal friends with everyone.
Also, your special friends can always get the better Valentines. I even gave chocolates to my “girlfriends” back then.
So, (where you live) in Australia, are you allowed to hand out invitations to a party at school if not everyone is invited? Because that’s verboten here. The people who don’t get invited get upset, and those are very often the people you don’t want to get upset.
Plus, honestly, it’s being a jerk by rubbing people’s noses in their not being invited.
vomit
Does anyone know if someone puts out conversation hearts with insulting messages like, “You suck” and “I hate you?”
Oh, and this would be an example of the kind of “valentines” the kids exchange. That and you get candy and play games.
That would be great!
A couple of years ago, I did get a few boxes of ‘adult’ hearts <at an ‘adult’ store, natch> and those were fun. I’d love to see more versions, though; even some anti-valentine hearts would be great!
I’ve managed to grasp, via another message board, that this is a peculiar US thing. Everyone else (me included) regards Valentine’s Day as for romance only. I was squicked out by a thread on that other board started by a mother who wanted to know what present to post to her college-age son. Eugh!
Can’t speak for Cunctator but IME yes, that’s fine. The teachers really don’t get involved with that sort of stuff, you have cards/invitations/whatevers, you dish them out as desired, nobody’s going to bother checking up on who you are or are not handing them to. After my daughter’s last birthday we also took to school the party bags for the 3 invited kids who couldn’t make it, and nobody complained about that either. I guess it would be a problem if anyone pulled a “invite 21 kids of a 22-kid class”, but I haven’t personally encountered anyone being that big a dick
What about Christmas cards? Do US schools tend to have a policy with that? A number of kids in my daughter’s class handed out cards last christmas (I’m sure we never did this when I was in primary school, but then, I think the vast majority of these were parent-written, and I don’t think most parents had time for that back in the 70’s) Would that also be disallowed-unless-to-all?
I always thought it stupid too. You had to do an art project box for the valentines. You had to address a card to each kid, like them or hate them. The teacher required the school bully that beat the shit out of you every day still had to get a card saying how much you liked them. You got a couple candies. You went home and the day was done. I guess it could have been worse by making you bring thank you cards the next week.
This is what I would give my sweetie if I had a jillion dollars. (I posted this jpg to the Wiki commons, and helped write wrote the guy’s Wiki entry.) See the adorable little red heart–also with red-tinged music–hanging like a bracelet off the big red heart?
That’s for extra love.
After subtly asking my son a little more about his classmate, I found out that she “doesn’t celebrate any holidays.” Of course, this is though the ears/brain of a 7-year old, so I’m guessing he means the “normal” U.S. holidays celebrated in schools.
Thanks for the answers about JWs and Jews (I’m a non-practicing Jew who knows about the difference between Halloween/Purim, but never heard of the V-day issue.)
Are the celebrations for Halloween and Purim similar? Based on my reading of Ester, I wouldn’t have thought so.