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This parsha holds one of my favorite verses in the Torah.

כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא נפלאת היא ממך ולא רחוקה היא
לא בשמים היא ולא מעבר לים היא
כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו

For this commandment that I instruct you today is not too baffling for you, nor is it far away.
It is not in heaven… nor is it beyond the sea…
For this thing is very close to you; in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it.

(Devarim 30:11–14)

We're told this commandment is teshuvah.
And yet… most of us carry heavy stories about what that means.

Fear that if you don’t do it “right,” you’ll be judged harshly.
Listing out everything you did wrong and trying to feel bad enough so G-d will forgive you.
 

For many of us, teshuvah became a story of pressure, guilt, and a desperate attempt to earn Hashem’s love.

But the refreshing truth in this week's parsha is this:
 

This is not about something distant, unreachable, or only available to people with some kind of "it" factor or deeper intelligence.
 

It is very close.

The Zohar teaches that teshuvah means tashuv hei - returning the hei, the feminine presence of Hashem.

Teshuvah is not about trying harder to become someone better. It's coming home to the truth of who we already are - right here in our bodies, through our womanhood, to the Shechinah's Presence within us.

When we honor our deepest knowing, when we reclaim the pieces of ourselves that were silenced, when we begin to trust the rhythm of our own lives - we are literally fulfilling the essence of teshuvah. We are restoring the Shechinah to her place.

We are bringing the letters of Hashem's Name - the yud hei vav hei - back into wholeness.

This is exactly why the Torah insists: teshuvah is not in heaven. It was never given to angels. It was given to us - embodied souls on this earth. Because when we come home to our embodied alignment, to the truth living within, we literally bring Divine light into the lower realms.

Our bodies and cycles are not obstacles, but the very vessels where the Shechinah comes to rest. When you learn to track your cycle with wisdom, to listen to your fertility and hormones, to live in rhythm with your flow instead of against it - you’re not just gaining practical clarity.

You’re practicing a return.

You’re letting your feminine embodiment become the place where Hashem is revealed.

When I created Embodied, I knew it's so much more than tracking your cycle to prevent or achieve pregnancy - or even understanding your body more deeply. It’s a return to our deepest selves. An initiation into your womanhood, where cycle wisdom becomes a doorway to wholeness.

The Embodied waitlist sale is now closed, and I want to thank all of you who joined the waitlist to be a part of it. Embodied is still 3 months away but this is the time of year I start getting excited about everything that's about to unfold soon in this year's cohort. It's a special kind of woman being called in - the one who's so ready to return to herself.

I'm about to go quiet for a while and I can't wait to pick up these conversations again after all the chagim. 

Wishing you a kesivah vechasimah tovah, a blessed new year full of joy, abundance and peace.

As we crown Hashem on Rosh Hashanah, as we return the hei of Malchus to her place - may you feel how close teshuvah (as in the return to your truest essence) really is. In your mouth, in your heart, and in your body. In the woman you already are.

With love,
Pessy

P. S. I'm in a Spotify mood and this song played in my head as I finished writing this.

Return Again by Shaina Noll

(Shaina Noll's tracks, in general, are so heartwarming and bring you back to the childlike innocence within.) Enjoy!