“…(Yosef) fell on his (Yaakov’s) neck, he wept on his neck a good while.” (Bereishis 46:29)

RASHI: “Yaakcov, however, did not fall upon Joseph’s neck nor did he kiss him. Our Rabbis say: the reason was that he was reciting the Shema.”

When a person is asked how much of himself he is willing to give to the service of Hashem, different people will have different ways of answering. I believe that what we say in Shema tells us the correct answer: “Bechal Nafshecha” – one should even give one’s life to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And for those individuals, discussed in the Gemara, to whom their money is worth more than their lives, there is the obligation of “Bechol Meodecha” – with all their money or resources.

I recall once visiting an older man in the hospital whose family was not religious. He told me, “I have nowhere to go home to – why should I want to get better?” He was a well-to-do man, but because he didn’t see that he could spend his money now in the same way he could before he got sick, and there was no connection with whatever family remained, he therefore felt that he had no further purpose in life.

I have seen similar situations in people who were dedicated to their jobs and then were fired, or who got divorced and their own families turned against them. Everything for which they had been living until then evaporated and seemingly left them with no purpose to go forward. But in actuality, they haven’t lost their purpose in living. Even the person who is unconscious in the hospital has the ability to do the mitzvos hatemidios, as by just thinking about these mitzvos in their mind, they can fulfill these mitzvos constantly.

So how do we determine what is a “purposeful existence”?

As religious Jews we understand that being alive and having the ability to serve Hashem – this alone is a reason to exist. And these verses from Shema are here to tell us how to use our lives to the greatest degree.

As the above Rashi quotes, when Yaakov met Yosef, he said keriyas shema. Many of the mefarshim ask, “Was this the time to say Shema? And if it was truly the time to say Shema, why didn’t Yosef say it too?!” The classic answer is that the thing that Yaakov loved the most in the world was his son Yosef. And now when he was meeting him, this was the ideal time to show that his love for Hashem exceeded even his love for his son.

Similarly, when Rabbi Akiva was being raked to death with iron combs and was asked, “How are you so calm”? He answered, “My whole life I have been waiting for this opportunity, because the ultimate service of Hashem is when you are willing to give up something really dear to you. Now I can fulfill that by giving up my life for Hashem.” In Yaakov’s case, showing his love to Hashem was by using the great love he felt when he saw his son to connect to Hashem. In Rabbi Akiva’s case, it was his willingness to sacrifice his own life which showed his incredible love for Hashem.

We should be thankful that we generally are not tested to this extreme point, but we should always be conscious of the concept and proper attitude to have. If we think about being tested, we may even get rewarded as if we did it. So even though we are not being tested, let us give our all to our service of Hashem.