Maggid Eli Ramer, who writes under the name Andrew Ramer, is the author of five books of contemporary midrashim - Texting with Angels, Torah Told Different, Fragments of the Brooklyn Talmud, Deathless, and Queering the Text. Ordained a maggid in 2012, he lives in Oakland, California and is a member of Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco, in whose siddur many of his prayers and blessings can be found. Find more information on his work.
In a traditional translation of the Al Chet prayer we would read: "For the sin we committed…." But the word "chet" in Hebrew is an archery term that means "to miss the mark." As we face the effects of global warming, let's step away from the concept of "sin" and come back to the mark, to the ways that we've all missed it.
