"For the blood is the life . . . . "(Deut. 12:23) " . . . because the blood, in its value as life, makes atonement" (Lev. 17: 11) HemoPhilia is a rare disease, severe hemophilia rarer still, yet the written history of hemophilia extends back over a millennium and a half. In the ancient Middle East, blood and life were coupled. Blood was the primary substance necessary for life, given to God in sacrifice and forbidden as a food to mortals by Levitical law. Blood was essential for rites of purification and consecration. But the flow of blood during menstruation or parturition rendered a woman...