Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi (English name Warren Kenton; 8 January 1933 – 21 September 2020) was an author of books on the Toledano Tradition of

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, a teacher of the discipline, with a worldwide following, and a founding member of the

Kabbalah Society The Kabbalah Society is a London-based organisation that was founded in the early 1970s to promote what is known as the Toledano Tradition of Kabbalah, initially researched and first taught by Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. Currently, it is also taught ...

Early life

Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi was born, on 8 January 1933, into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in London, England, where he continued to live and work, along with his wife, Rebekah. On his father's side of the family, he was descended from a rabbinical

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

line with roots in

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

which was, at the turn of the 20th century, a province of Russi

On his mother's side, he was descended from a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Ashkenazi family

His Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi great-grandfather was Zerah Barnet, who helped found the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Mea Shearim Mea Shearim (, lit., "hundred gates"; contextually, "a hundred fold", Ashkenazi Hebrew and Yiddish pronunciation: Meye Shorim) is one of the oldest Ashkenazi neighborhoods in Jerusalem outside of the Old City. It is populated by Ashkenazi Hared ...

district, just outside the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

, and a Hebrew

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

. Many of his publications are issued under his

Hebrew name A Hebrew name is a name of Hebrew origin. In a more narrow meaning, it is a name used by Jews only in a religious context and different from an individual's secular name for everyday use. Names with Hebrew origins, especially those from the ...

, Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi, a contraction of his full family name of Z'ev ben Shimon ben Joshua Haham-Halevi. The name

Haham ''Hakham'' (or ''Chakam(i), Haham(i), Hacham(i), Hach''; ) is a term in Judaism meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He who says a wise th ...

is applied to a lineage of teachers in

culture; it means "wise one." Both his paternal and maternal families were

Levite Levites ( ; ) or Levi are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew definite article "" ''Ha-' ...

s, according to family records. When his grandfather migrated to England in 1900 the surname Haham was recorded as Kaufman; it was later changed to Kento

When World War Two began, he and his family moved to a small village just beyond

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

. He attended primary and secondary schools in the town, but he later moved back to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as a student at

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, studying painting during his time there. He remained in London for the rest of his life. After college he kept up his artwork, some of which was commissioned. Further work included working in general and psychiatric hospitals, as well as in a theatre workshop and at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

.
Besides theatre work and practising graphic desig

he also taught at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, RADA and the Architectural Association. He ran workshops for the Wrekin Trust and lectured at the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

, the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture.

Later Career: Kabbalistic work

He first started studying Kabbalah at the age of 25 and was a student and tutor of Kabbalah for more than 60 years, beginning to teach in 1971. During this time he visited nearly all the old major centres of Kabbalah in Europe, North Africa and Israel, while specialising in the Toledano Tradition, a form that derives from the

which developed in early medieval Spain and France and which included among its focal points the towns of Lunel, Posquières,

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

br>
and the city of Toledo, Spain, Toledo. These and other centres flowered, producing among their practitioners of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

and

Isaac the Blind Isaac the Blind ( ''Rabbī Yīṣḥaq Saggī Nəhōr'', literally "Rabbi Isaac, of much light"; c. 1160–1235 in Provence, France), was a French rabbi and a famous writer on Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). The Aramaic epithet "Saggi Nehor" means " ...

Azriel of Gerona Azriel ibn Menahem ibn Ibrahim al-Tarās (Arabic: عزريل بن مناحيم بن ابراهيم التاراس ''Azrēyl bin Mināḥīm ben Ibrāhim āl-Tārās''; Hebrew: עזריאל בן מנחם בן אברהם אלתראס ''ʿÁzrīyʾēl ...

, Ezra ben Solomo

and

Nachmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...

. During this period Kabbalists incorporated into their expositions and exegeses a degree of

Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

emanationism, first introduced into Spain by

Solomon ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

, that conformed to the requirements of

Jewish theology Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to recon ...

and philosophy. To some extent, in medieval times, it conflicted with the Aristotelian approach to

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconc ...

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

and his followers. As defined by the Provencal/Catalan Kabbalists, emanationism was concerned with how the transcendent God, called

Ein Sof Ein Sof, or Eyn Sof (, '; meaning "infinite", ), in Kabbalah, is understood as God before any self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm, probably derived from Solomon ibn Gabirol's (1021–1070) term, "the Endless One" ( ''še ...

by Kabbalists, caused potentialities to flow into Existence via what became named as the 10

Sephirot Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...

in order to bring about Creation. A fellow of the Temenos Academy, UK, instituted by the poet,

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Plat ...

, Halevi regularly lectured there

He taught groups on every continent, including at Interface Boston, the New York Open Centre; The Centre for Psychological Astrology, UK;

Omega Institute Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is a non-profit educational Retreat (spiritual), retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Founded in 1977 by Elizabeth Lesser and Stephan Rechtschaffen, inspired by Sufi mystic, Pir Vilayat Inayat ...

; New York Kabbalah Society; the Jungian Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Karen Kabbalah, Atlanta, as well as in synagogues and at rabbinical colleges. He was the Director of Tutors for the

and for many years ran a series of Kabbalah courses at

Regent's College Regent's University London (formerly Regent's College) is a private university located in London, England. It is part of Galileo Global Education, Europe’s largest higher education provider. Regent's University London was established in 1984 ...

in London. He traveled widely and ran a continuing series of ''Way of Kabbalah'' courses and lectures held in many countries, including America, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Scotland and Spain, though few of his lectures have been published and fewer still are online; similarly with his articles. Over the years, he also took part in a series of interviews for various media. Halevi was as well known a writer as he was a teacher of

, having published 18 books, including a kabbalistic novel and books on

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

and kabbalistic astrology. Contemporary astrologers such as Judy Hall refer to the work he has done on the latter

In the earlier part of his career he wrote a number of books on

stagecraft Stagecraft is a technical aspect of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes constructing and rigging scenery; hanging and focusing of lighting; design and procurement of costumes; make-up; stage management; audio engineering; ...

. Both he and his work on the Toledano Tradition are publicly recognized,Kathleen Raine, Light Magazine, Spring 1989 and his work has now been translated into sixteen languages, to date, including

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. He also set up an annual Summer School, aided by his wife, which regularly included students from around the world, and he started up an annual series of workshops in London. At his home, he also held regular weekly meetings, during term time, of the London Kabbalah Group. This part of his work continued for many years. Halevi was one of the founder members of the

, which was set up to encourage the study of late C12th and early C13th Kabbalah in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He died at his home in London, 21 September 2020, after a short illness.

Reception

Influence

;

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

In an introduction to the Sacred Web Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, 23/24 September 2006 at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

in 2006,

, a Patron of the Temenos Academy, said, when talking of the tension between Tradition and

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

This dilemma is captured in ancient notions of balance and harmony; notions that are, for example, expressed in many guises in that wonderful Kabbalistic diagram of the
Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...
. As the Temenos Fellow, Warren Kenton, so beautifully explains in his lectures to the students of the Academy, the teaching of the Tree of Life is that the "active" and the "passive" aspects of life, which on their own may lead to imbalance and disharmony, must be, can only be, brought together in harmony by the influx into our lives of the Divine and the Sacred. Whether or not we interpret this image as an explanation of an outer or an inner orientation, it is in this way, and only in this way, that the forces, or characteristics, of expansion and constraint can be brought into balanc

/blockquote> There is a DVD that includes this portion of the King's talk on the World Wisdom website

;Kathleen Raine The poet,
Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Plat ...
, had this to say about Halevi's work:
A feature of this author's system not found in others (although doubtless it is traditional though not universally taught) is the beautiful way in which the interfaces of each 'world' overlap with the one above (or below). Thus, the highest experiences of the physical world overlap the lower part of the next world (the psychological]: and again psyche's highest experiences of the individual soul coincide with spiritual regions of the transpersonal world of universal forms. So from illumination to illumination we reascend the 'ladder' by which each of us 'came down to earth from heaven'. The awe-inspiring sublimity of the Kabbalistic universe at once convinces and comforts. It is our destiny to descend and to fulfil some task, learn some lesson in the natural world; as it is to follow the path of return, to reascend from world to world, no matter how many lifetimes this may take us before we return to our true home, 'the kingdom of Heaven'. ''Kathleen Raine, Light Magazine, Spring 1989.''
;Sinéad O'Connor Singer
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
wrote in the inner sleeve notes to the album, ''
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' is the second studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 by Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song " Nothing Compares 2 U", which was released a ...
'', "Special thanks to Selina Marshall + Warren Kenton for showing me that all I'd need was inside me." ;Charles Thomson Artist
Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Founding Father of the United States and secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson prepared the Journals of the ...
said, "I studied Kabbalah under a teacher called Warren Kenton, who said there was a lot of humour at the spiritual level, and I think that's true

Criticism
A professor of Kabbalah at
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
has bemoaned the hijacking of kabbalah by various
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
authors and gave Halevi as an example.
Joseph Dan Joseph Dan (, 1935 – 23 July 2022) was an Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism. He taught for over 40 years in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was the first incumbent of the Gershom Scholem Chair in ...
, in his work ''The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences'', wrote in footnote 57 to the introduction: :Another distressing phenomenon is connected with the numerous books concerning kabbalah, its history, nature, and traditions, as instruction for modern living, published by "Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi" who is a nice English gentleman from Hampstead who does not know any Hebrew. His books were used as authentic, scholarly source by many, including
Simo Parpola Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola (born 4 July 1943) is a Finnish Assyriologist specializing in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki (retired fall 2009). Career Simo Parpola studied Assyriology, C ...
.

Bibliography
;Early books on Stagecraft * ''Introducing Stagecraft,'' (as Warren Kenton), Drake Publishers, c.1971 * ''Play Begins: A Documentary-Novel upon the Mounting of a Play,'' (as Warren Kenton), Elek Books. 1971 * ''Stage Properties and How to Make Them,'' (as Warren Kenton), Pitman, 1978 ;Subsequent books on Kabbalah * ''An Introduction to the Cabala: Tree of Life,'' Rider, 1972; Samuel Weiser, 1991 * ''Adam and the Kabbalistic Tree,'' Rider, London 1974 * ''A Kabbalistic Universe,'' Samuel Weiser, 1977; Gateway, 1988 * ''Kabbalah: A Tradition of Hidden Knowledge'' Thames and Hudson, 1979 * ''Kabbalah and Exodus,'' Rider, 1980, Samuel Weiser, 1988 and Gateway Books, 1993 * ''The Work of the Kabbalist,'' Gateway, 1984; Samuel Weiser, 1993 * ''The School of the Soul,'' Gateway Books, 1985 * ''Psychology and Kabbalah'' Samuel Weiser, 1986; Gateway, 1991 * ''The Way of Kabbalah,'' Gateway Books, 1991 * ''Kabbalah: The Divine Plan,'' Harper Collins, 1996 * ''Introduction to the World of Kabbalah,'' Kabbalah Society: Tree of Life Publishing (UK), 2008 * ''The Path of a Kabbalist: An Autobiography,'' Kabbalah Society: Tree of Life Publishing (UK), 2009 * ''A Kabbalistic View of History,'' Kabbalah Society: Tree of Life Publishing (UK), 2013 * ''Kabbalistic Contemplations,'' pub. Bet El Trust (UK), 2021 ;Astrological works * ''As Above so Below: A Study in Cosmic Progression,'' (as Warren Kenton), Stuart and Watkins, 1969 * ''Astrology: The Celestial Mirror,'' (as Warren Kenton), Thames and Hudson, 1974 * ''Astrology and Kabbalah'', pub. Urania Trust, 2000: formerly published as ''The Anatomy of Fate'', Gateway Books, 1978 ;Kabbalistic novel * ''The Anointed,'' Penguin Arcana, 1987. ;Audio CDs * ''Way of Kabbalah Meditations,'' Tree of Life Publishing (UK), 2004

References

Further reading
Dan, Joseph, ''Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Ethics'', pub. J. Aronson Inc., 2nd edition, 1977
Dan, Joseph, ''The Early Kabbalah'', pub. Paulist Press, 1986
Gerzon, Gila, ''Kabbalah: Gates of Knowledge'', pub. Aur Tiferet, 2020
Goodman, Len, ed., ''Neoplatonism and Jewish Thought'', pub. Albany: SUNY Press, 1992
Halevi, Z'ev ben Shimon, ''A Kabbalistic Universe'', pub. Bet El Trust, revised edition, 2016
Scholem, Gershom, ''Origins of the Kabbalah'', pub. Princeton Paperbacks, 1991
Scholem, Gershom, ''ha-Qabbalah be-Gerona'', ed. J. Ben-Shlomo, pub. Jerusalem, 1964

External links

The Kabbalah Society (Toledano tradition)Video conversationHis books in SpanishThe Temenos AcademyArtworkDevelopment of Halevi's work as it relates to Judaism and in the everyday world
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halevi, Z'ev Ben Shimon 1933 births 2020 deaths Academics of Regent's University London Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Writers from London English Sephardi Jews British people of Moldovan-Jewish descent Kabbalists English religious writers English astrologers 20th-century astrologers 21st-century astrologers