And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff and assemble the community…and you shall speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water.” Why did Moses need to take the staff if he was to speak to the rock? Rav Hirsch quotes what he heard from his illustrious teacher and perhaps the first modern Rabbi, Haham Isaac Bernays (his granddaughter Martha Bernays married Sigmund Freud). Until now Moses used his staff to perform miracles but as their desert sojourn was ending, Hashem wanted the people to know that Moses’ word – the power of the Torah – could replace his staff. Whereas Moses magical staff was lost to us, His words remain our inheritance forever.