Question
If the route which we traveled through the desert was barren, then how did the livestock feed? Where did so much wood come from for the sacrifices in the Tabernacle? Was there some sort of trading going on?
Answer
Thank you for your inquiry. Tosefos (Early Commentator on the Talmud) in Tractate Menachos says clearly that there was trading going on between Israel and the caravans / nomadic tribes that canvassed the desert. They would also receive hay and other forms of animal feed, along with many other supplies from these “trading partners.”
Rabbi Dovid Frankel