Relationships to Love in the Digital Age

In the near three years now that JUMP (Jewish Urban Meeting Place) has been in operation, here in Toronto, there have been quite a few talks on the subject of love, dating and relationships. Now it might look strange that love, dating and relationships are written here separately. Often times they get combined into just one of these three terms. Clearly from the talk last week led by Jason ("JR") Renard on the top tips to online dating, they each in fact exist in their own orbit.



JR defined love as the proper name we give to the overwhelming affection we feel towards another person, favorite family pet and/or for some, to an inanimate object. We navigate through the few or many relationships we have with the same or opposite sex via the vehicle of dating. The intention in large part is to find our Beshert or "the one", whom we will ultimately marry and with whom we will intimately share our life.

Here he reflected on his two dealings with the types of users commonly found on all the popular and probably even on the not so popular online dating sites. The first experience ended horribly and was just about enough to turn him away for good. The second well...



To really understand relationships and love and find success in a world of online dating, JR's top tip was to be truthful and honest. When going beyond what we see in embellished profiles and cropped photo-shopped pictures, open yourself up to learning how to give, receive, maintain and cultivate love through the intimacy of face to face conversation.