Recent Entries code corrupted

I’m using the Almost Spring theme and have a Recent Entries sidebar section. Somehow the code has become corrupted. I hope someone help me correct the code. Here it is:

<a href=
              "%3C?php%20the_permalink()%20?%3E"><?php the_title(); ?></a>

This code generates this corrupted link:
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/%3C?php%20the_permalink()%20?%3E