Third Proof
176 – The third point is that some people strive to settle in Jerusalem for devotional retreat yet turn their backs on settling in the nearby frontier outpost! Guarding the borders is one of the very best, most exalted acts of worship and is a collective duty. Plainly, to abandon it is the greatest loss, the severest deprivation, and the furthest one can stray from following the Sacred Law; for keeping residence near the Two Sanctuaries may well be difficult, whereas standing guard on the frontier is not, since the two locations are entirely different.
177 – When the two sites are so unequal, to leave the worthier for the lesser— that is, it does not