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The first version of this prayer was composed by Danny Nevins when we were both in reb school. I published it in lechem tafayl—the best Jewish zine ever (actually it was pre-zine, but post-samizdat, call it what you will). His 2005 revised version can be found at www.rabbinevins.org, but the version here has been significantly added to by myself, with ecological tweaks and intertextual references to Sukkot and some important verses.
You can add either version of this prayer anywhere in the "Al Chet" sections of the Machzor.
Download the NeoHasid version of Al Chet – For the sin of destroying God's creation
Download Rabbi Danny Nevins' original version of Al Chet – For the sin of destroying God's creation
Here's the English translation for the NeoHasid version:
Eternal God, You created earth and heavens with mercy,
and blew the breath of life into animals and humans.
We were created amidst a world of wholeness, pure and beautiful,
but now it is headed for annihilation in our hands.
Not by our righteousness do we plead our prayers before You,
Adonai our God, for we have sinned, despoiled, destroyed.
May it be Your will to subdue, to heal, to bring atonement to us:
For the sin of filling land and ocean with filth, toxins and garbage;
For the sin of extinguishing forever amazing species
which You saved from the oceans of the flood;
And for the sin of razing forests and trees, rivers and mountains,
and all the habitat that bring to life every life's breath.
Open our eyes to see the majesty of Your creation!
Then we will praise you as it is written:
"How manifold are Your works, Adonai! All of them You made
with wisdom; the earth is filled with all that you hold."
Please Adonai, protect all of them,
in the shade of your wings give them refuge.
Renew the face of the earth, please, save the weave and fullness;
Please Adonai, remove the heart of stone from our flesh,
and set within us a heart of flesh.
Grant us wisdom and a heart of courage
to be watchful over this garden of life,
to make it thrive under the heavens.
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