1.
Ness Vachnine asks:
Hello Rabbi Kornfeld.
Why are the four capital punishments listed as stoning, burning, beheading, strangulation? (45a, 52a, 52b, 52b- explaining how it is done; 53a, 75a, 76b, 84b- explaining who gets each punishment.) The last 2 seem like the most painless methods of execution, while here they are listed as most to least in order of how painful they are.
Ness Vachnine, Brooklyn, Unted Steates of America
2.
The Kollel replies:
Ness, you are right! Rashi, on the first line of 49b, writes that stoning is more painful than burning, and both of these are more painful than beheading, and all these three are more painful than strangulation.
Kesivah v'Chasimah Tovah,
Dovid Bloom