Tractate Erchin, (literally “assessments”) deals with various kinds of donations to the Holy Temple. It is named for the Biblical model of donation in which one donates the “worth” of an individual to the Temple treasury. Its nine chapters cover a number of donation modes and the laws that govern them.

Taking into account the fact that the Kohanim take ownership of certain fields consecrated by ordinary Israelites, the Talmud concludes with a discussion of a Kohen who consecrates real estate received in such a manner. The Talmud entertains—and then rejects—the notion that the Kohen in question would be able to keep the field. The last lines of the tractate center around specific verses that support both the proposed law and the final ruling.