And hear about online dating sites that link tradition with the web and ask whether or not that's a good thing. It seems matchmaking traditions die hard, even in the digital age.

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Three of The Current

Online Dating - New Technology, Old Tradition - TheJmom.com

We started this segment with a clip from Fiddler on the Roof and unlike Tevye's five daughters in Fiddler on the Roof, most people don't have a village matchmaker to set them up. Instead, more singles rely on their laptops to find love. But it's not completely out with the old, in with the new. There are websites that pair online dating with traditional matchmaking, and they've become increasingly popular in South Asian and Jewish communities.

Brad Weisberg is the co-founder of one of those websites. It's called TheJmom.com, and it bills itself as "the Number One Jewish mothers matchmaking network." Brad Weisberg was in Chicago. And Barbara Weisberg is Brad's j-mom and she was in Glenview, Kentucky.

Online Dating - New Technology, Old Tradition - Shaadi.com

We started this segment with comedian Russell Peters and Mom's idea of dating.

When Canadians of South Asian ancestry go looking for a match, many turn to a site called Shaadi.com. About 24,000 people in the Greater Toronto Area use the site. And about one in three of the site's profiles is set-up and run by parents. Shaadi.com has become so popular, the New York based company opened its first satellite office in Mississauga, Ontario for face-to-face matchmaking services.

Anjan Saikia is the vice-president of international operations for Shaadi.com and we caught up with him at his New York City office.

The site may be popular, but there are no guarantees, either for speed or success. Our next guest used the service for five years. Sampada Kukade joined us from Toronto.

Online Dating - New Technology, Old Tradition - A History of Marriage

Our next guest thinks there's at least one key difference between dating sites and traditional matchmakers. And that's a stake in the outcome. Elizabeth Abbott is an historian and the author of A History of Marriage. She was in Toronto.

This half-hour was produced by The Current's Shannon Higgins.

Related Links:

• The Jewish matchmaker By: Harriet Sherwood - The Guardian
• Four users on the GTA's largest South Asian dating website-Shaadi.com By: Natasha Fatah - Toronto Life

Last Word - An Affair of the Heart

We've been talking today about the growing importance of the internet in bringing people together. But the ties that bind will never be made from fibre optic cable. For today's Last Word on this Valentine's Day special 28-year-old Kristin Miller of Winnipeg shared her story about a very literal affair of the heart.