The Doctor is dead. But he’s still trying to clean up the world’s messes.

The Heilbronner family got their name from their home town of Heilbronn, Germany. They were soap makers. In 1929, young Emanuel Heilbronner immigrated to the United States and pleaded with his family to follow him. They refused, and as a result lost their lives in the Holocaust. When he arrived in Chicago, Emanuel dropped the “Heil” from his name to protest Hitler. He developed a quasi-religious philosophy he called “All-God-One-Faith” which got him into trouble. He was arrested while promoting his beliefs, was institutionalized and given shock treatments. He escaped from the madhouse on his third try.

He moved to California and struggled to survive. But he never lost his faith. After several years working in the soap industry, he developed one of the world’s oddest consumer products: Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. It’s a liquid castile soap, made entirely from organic vegetable oils. But it’s the label that makes it truly unique. Plastered with philosophical quotes from Moses, Jesus, Ghandi, Lincoln and Ali (Muhammad, that is), Dr. Bronner’s is hands-down the most entertaining packaging ever created. Adopted by hippies in the 1960’s, it has since moved out of health food stores and into the main stream.

For the last 30 years of his life, Dr. Bronner was blind, and he died in 1997. But his vision for world peace lives on. In 2007, the company began sourcing 90% of its olive oil from Canaan, which is in the Palestinian territory. The company pays growers a guaranteed minimum price, which allows them to compete with growers in the EU. The other 10% comes from a cooperative run by Jewish and Arab women in Israel. So every little bottle of Dr. Bronner’s is a testament to cooperation. And every bath you take brings the Holy Land a few drops closer to a sustainable peace.

So – Doctor’s orders – remember your Moral ABC’s! Cleanliness! Godliness! ALL ONE, CHILDREN! ALL ONE!!