A Mitzvah With Joy

Rabenu Bechaya continues to explain the meaning of the word “hashkifa” (look), noting that this word is used only to describe danger.

He says that this is meant to teach us the great reward one receives when he does a mitzvah with joy. Doing so transforms the middas hadin into middas harachamim, as Chazal say (Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 14): “Matnas aniyim is so powerful that every time the word ‘hashkifa’ is used in the Torah, it has a bad connotation, but this time, it is said as a bracha.”