diff --git a/korban_processor/src/korban_processor/zerikah.py b/korban_processor/src/korban_processor/zerikah.py
index b1afab02..101184ae 100644
--- a/korban_processor/src/korban_processor/zerikah.py
+++ b/korban_processor/src/korban_processor/zerikah.py
@@ -16,6 +16,37 @@ What is discarded (the hide, the offal):
   - Repetitive reformulations of the query
   - Social pleasantries and qualifiers
   - Ungrounded speculation
+
+NAMING NOTE — three Temple stages folded into one module:
+
+The full Temple sacrifice protocol has FIVE stages between semichah
+(laying-on-of-hands) and haktarah (offering on the altar):
+
+  1. semichah    — owner identifies with the offering
+  2. shechitah   — ritual slaughter (terminate raw form)
+  3. KABBALAH    — the kohen RECEIVES the blood in a vessel
+  4. HOLACHAH    — the kohen CARRIES the blood to the altar
+  5. ZERIKAH     — the kohen SPRINKLES the blood on the altar
+  6. haktarah    — burning of permitted portions
+
+The pipeline implements only four modules: semichah, shechitah,
+zerikah, haktarah. Stages 3 and 4 (kabbalah + holachah) are folded
+into this module. The compression is acceptable because:
+  - kabbalah and holachah have no analog of physical blood movement
+    in a software pipeline; they are atomic operations within the
+    same function call as the sprinkling
+  - the analog of "the vessel that receives the blood" IS the
+    return value of zerikah() — vital content separated and held
+  - the analog of "carrying to the altar" IS the function call
+    boundary between zerikah() and haktarah() in external_offering.py
+
+This compression is named explicitly so a future reader is not
+confused into thinking only one stage occurs here, or that the
+pipeline silently dropped two ritual acts. If the architecture
+later requires distinguishing the three (e.g. to add a separate
+audit hook between receiving and sprinkling), the right move is
+to split this module into three, not to add the distinction
+elsewhere.
 """
 
 import re