Here, the Mishnah will talk about how Malkot (lashes) was given. The Mishnah says, “How did the sinner get Malkot?” They would tie his two hands to either side of a wooden post. The person who was going to give him the Malkot would grab his clothing and pull them. If they ripped, they ripped. If he tore them at the seam, he tore them at the seam. He doesn’t have to really care for the person’s clothes; he’s allowed to rip them until he uncovers the chest and back of the person he’s going to whip. Those are going to be the parts of the body that are going to get whipped.
There was a stone placed behind the sinner who was going to be whipped. The attendant, the worker who was going to whip the person, would stand behind him on that stone. He would hold in his hand a strap made from calfskin, and he would use that to give the Malkot. The strap was doubled. They folded it in half, and then they folded it once more in order to make a thickness of four straps. Woven into this strap were two other straps made from donkey, so it would be a combination of calfskin and also part donkey. That’s what the retzuah, that’s what the whip would be.