Our post earlier this week about No Sweat, the sweatshop-free apparel company creating jobs for Palestinians in Bethlehem, set off quite the debate. Whatever your stance on the work Adam Neiman and company are doing, one thing is for certain: A number of their organic, Bethlehem-made T-shirts are must haves. Here are a few of our faves:

Organic Bethlehem Green Menorah Tee, $18: "The Shalom Center of Philadelphia does remarkable interfaith work with an integrated approach to the issues of peace, justice and environmental responsibility. Their new green menorah covenant campaign is focused on climate change. It's an especially good fit on our Palestinian produced organic t-shirts from Bethlehem, West Bank. $4 per t-shirt goes to support the Shalom Center's climate change campaign."

Organic Bethlehem Vision in Action Tee, $18: "There’s only one symbol in the holy land that’s embraced by Jews, Christians & Muslims & this is it, the eye of Fatima (or Miriam), encircled by a Japanese proverb that fits the moment to a T: Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. Fatima was Mohammed’s daughter, Miriam, Moses’ sister. It is said that the symbol actually represents the hidden female aspect of the deity and is used as a talisman to ward off the evil eye. For us the placement of the eye in the hand implies vision in action - what we strive to provide every day."

Organic Bethlehem Musicians Against Sweatshops Tee, $20: "Musicians Against Sweat Shops™ official tee is here, and only here! Support this initiative to help wipe sweatshops out of the music merchandising business while raising awareness of the issue. $5 on every T goes to MASS."

Previous: Alternative Jewish Grooves for Passover

My dad is notoriously straight-laced. For many years his Purim costume was an orange kipah. For him, that was radical. But recently he’s come out of his shell a bit, and it’s all because he went to a bar mitzvah and realized he’d forgotten his standard brown crocheted kipah at home. He had to snag one of the complimentary ones offered by the parents of the bar mitzvah, and those were not the normal black suede numbers with the bar mitzvah boy’s name printed in gold on the inside. At the bar mitzvah in question, the kippot provided had been imported from Guatemala. They’re called Mayaworks Kippot, and the website gives a really cool explanation of how a bunch of women in Guatemala started crocheting kippot:Get Yourself a Socially Conscious Yarmulke: You'll be the most popular guy at the bar mitzvah bash

MayaWorks kippot are crocheted by Mayan women who live in San Marcos, Guatemala, on the shores of Lake Atitlan. They began making kippot a few years ago, thanks to the idea of a MayaWorks volunteer who saw their crocheted hackysacks and small purses. After a few lessons in how to make the kippot rounded and shaped, the women set to work creating this new product. Some months later, a MayaWorks volunteer realized that the Mayan women had no idea what they were creating. A discussion ensued that talked about religious customs, both Mayan and Jewish, and explained the use and meaning of the kippot.

The work of the kippot crocheters makes a difference in the daily life of families: it means more food on the table; it means children can continue their education; it means the family might be able to bring electricity into their home; it means there is money to take the bus to town to visit a doctor.

MayaWorks Kippot come in various colorful designs and are approximately 6" in diameter. The cost is $8/each. Orders over $200 receive a 10% discount and orders of 100 kippot or more receive the bulk rate of $6/each. Your purchase of MayaWorks kippot brings income to the artisans who create them--that means better food on their family table, better access to health care and school for their children. You can make a difference in the lives of a Mayan family!

To order kippot, mezzuzot, and other Judaica products made by these women, click here. MayaWorks is a fair trade organization, making sure that their artisans make market wages, and can be proud of their work.

And my dad? He’s a loyal MayaWorks customer now, with a bright red, green, blue and yellow kippot for every day of the week. He gets complimented on them all the time. What with my purple hair and his neon yarmulkes we are SO taking Jewish heads to a whole new level.