In this Mishnah, we’ll talk about execution by beheading and execution by strangling. The Mishnah says this is what was done to those people who were sentenced to beheading: they would cut off the person’s head with a sword while he was standing, like the government did in executions. The person would be standing up, and they would chop his head off with the sword.
Rabbi Yehuda says, “That type of beheading, cutting off a man’s head when he’s standing, is disgraceful. It’s a very embarrassing way to pass away. The person’s body, without a head, falls to the ground.” So, therefore, it suggests to Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Yehuda says that what they would do is lay a person face down and place his head on a block. They would chop off his head with an axe. The rabbis replied to Rabbi Yehuda, “You think that the first way—a man having his head chopped off and then falling to the ground—is disgraceful? This is much more disgraceful. This is a much worse way to pass away. The fact that the person falls to the ground is a bigger disgrace.” The chachamim (rabbis), though, would say, “No. The breaking of the bones that happens when a person is executed from the back of his neck is much more disgraceful.” According to the chachamim, when a person is executed from the front, he dies swiftly and quickly by the cutting of the windpipe, and that is a much less disgraceful way to pass away.
When people were sentenced to death by strangling, they would take the person and sink him into a pile of manure up to his knees, so he wouldn’t have the ability to move around. They would take a very rough, tough scarf and put it inside a soft scarf, then wrap it around the person’s neck. Two men would stand on the sides and pull the scarf, choking the person until, while they were choking him, his soul left his body and he passed away.