Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi
Encyclopedia
Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi is an author of books on the Toledano Tradition of Kabbalah
, a teacher of the discipline, with a worldwide following, and a founder member of the Kabbalah Society
.
, England
, where he continues to live and work, along with his wife, Rebekah
. http://www.skyscript.co.uk/kenton.html On his father's side of the family, he descends from a rabbinical Sephardi line with roots in Bessarabia
which was, at the turn of the C20th, a province of Russia
. On his mother's side, he is descended from a Polish
Ashkenazi family. http://www.kabbalahsociety.org/halevi.html
He attended St Martin's School of Art and The Royal Academy, studying painting during his time there. After college his jobs included working in general and psychiatric hospitals, as well as in a theatre workshop and at the Royal Opera House
.
Besides theatre work and practising graphic design http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/poster/poster.html?_IXSR_=AdA6PBybPAT&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=2006/10585&IXsummary=artist/artist&IXartist=Warren%20Kenton&_IXFIRST_=1http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/poster/poster.html?_IXSR_=AdA6PBybPAT&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1983/4/7382&IXsummary=artist/artist&IXartist=Warren%20Kenton&_IXFIRST_=2, he also taught at RADA
and the Architectural Association. He ran workshops for the Wrekin Trust
and has lectured at the Theosophical Society
, the Royal College of Art
and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture.
Kabbalah which developed in early medieval Spain
and France
and which included among its focal points the towns of Lunel
and Girona
and the city of Toledo
.
These and other centres flowered, producing among their practitioners of mysticism
and Kabbalah Solomon ibn Gabirol
, Isaac the Blind
and Nachmanides. During this period Kabbalists incorporated into their expositions and exegeses a degree of Neoplatonic emanationism, called Ein Sof
by kabbalists, that conformed to the requirements of Jewish theology and philosophy, though, to some extent, in medieval times, it conflicted with the Aristotelian
approach to Jewish philosophy
by Maimonides
and his followers.
A fellow of the Temenos Academy
, UK, instituted by the poet, Kathleen Raine
, Halevi regularly lectures there. http://www.temenosacademy.org/temenos_key_individuals.html He has taught groups on every continent, including at Interface Boston, the New York Open Centre; The Centre for Psychological Astrology, UK; Omega Institute; New York Kabbalah Society; the Jungian Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Karen Kabbalah, Atlanta, as well as in synagogue
s and at rabbinical colleges. He is the Director of Tutors for the Kabbalah Society
and for many years ran a series of Kabbalah courses at Regent's College
in London.
He travels widely and runs 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. http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/theosophy/circles/kenton1.htm. Over the years, he has also taken part in a series of interviews for various media.
Halevi is as well known a writer as he is a teacher, having published 18 books, including a kabbalistic novel and books on astrology
and kabbalistic astrology. Contemporary astrologers such as Judy Hall refer to the work he has done on the latter. http://www.astrozero.co.uk/articles/chain.htm, p. 22. In the earlier part of his career he wrote a number of books on stagecraft
. Both he and his work on the Toledano Tradition are publicly recognised. and his work has now been translated into over thirteen languages, including Hebrew.
Many of his publications are issued under his Hebrew name, Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi, a contraction of his full family name of Z’ev ben Shimon ben Joshua Haham-Halevi. Both of his families were Levite
s, according to family records. When his grandfather migrated to England in 1900 the name Haham was recorded as Kaufman; it was later changed to Kenton.http://www.kabbalahsociety.org/halevi.html
In an introduction to the Sacred Web Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, September 23/24, 2006 at the University of Alberta
in 2006, the Prince of Wales
, a Patron of the Temenos Academy, said, when talking of the tension between Tradition
and Modernism
:
There is a DVD that includes this portion of the Prince's talk on the World Wisdom website. http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/details.aspx?ID=251
Kathleen Raine
The poet, Kathleen Raine
, had this to say about Halevi's work:
Sinéad O'Connor
Singer Sinéad O'Connor
wrote in the inner sleeve notes to the album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
, "Special thanks to Selina Marshall + Warren Kenton for showing me that all I'd need was inside me."
Charles Thomson
Artist Charles Thomson
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."http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.3.PAINT.%20CHARLES%20THOMSON.htm
has bemoaned the hijacking of 'kabbalah' by various "New Age
" authors and has given Halevi as an example. In his work The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, he writes at Introduction footnote 57: "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
."
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
, a teacher of the discipline, with a worldwide following, and a founder member of the Kabbalah Society
Kabbalah Society
The Kabbalah Society is a New York-based organisation founded to promote what it states is the Toledano Tradition of Kabbalah, initially researched, and now taught by Warren Kenton...
.
Early life
Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi was born, on the 8 January 1933, into a Jewish family in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he continues to live and work, along with his wife, Rebekah
Rebecca
Rebecca a biblical matriarch from the Book of Genesis and a common first name. In this book Rebecca was said to be a beautiful girl. As a name it is often shortened to Becky, Becki or Becca; see Rebecca ....
. http://www.skyscript.co.uk/kenton.html On his father's side of the family, he descends from a rabbinical Sephardi line with roots in Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
which was, at the turn of the C20th, a province of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. On his mother's side, he is descended from a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Ashkenazi family. http://www.kabbalahsociety.org/halevi.html
He attended St Martin's School of Art and The Royal Academy, studying painting during his time there. After college his jobs included working in general and psychiatric hospitals, as well as in a theatre workshop and at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
.
Besides theatre work and practising graphic design http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/poster/poster.html?_IXSR_=AdA6PBybPAT&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=2006/10585&IXsummary=artist/artist&IXartist=Warren%20Kenton&_IXFIRST_=1http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/poster/poster.html?_IXSR_=AdA6PBybPAT&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1983/4/7382&IXsummary=artist/artist&IXartist=Warren%20Kenton&_IXFIRST_=2, he also taught at RADA
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
and the Architectural Association. He ran workshops for the Wrekin Trust
Wrekin Trust
The Wrekin Trust is a charity founded by Sir George Trevelyan in 1971, under the active encouragement of Air Marshal Victor Goddard. Its stated purpose is non-sectarian spiritual education. It aims to create "safe meeting spaces for connections, dialogue, learning and social action."...
and has lectured at the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
, the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture.
Kabbalistic work
He has been a student and tutor of the Kabbalah for more than 40 years and has taught it since 1971. During this time he has visited nearly all the old major centers of Kabbalah in Europe, North Africa and Israel, while specialising in the Toledano Tradition, a form that derives from the SephardiSephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
Kabbalah which developed in early medieval Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and which included among its focal points the towns of Lunel
Lunel
Lunel is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. Lunel is located east of Montpellier and southwest of Nîmes .-History:The ancient Roman site of Ambrussum is located nearby. The troubadour Folquet de Lunel was from Lunel....
and Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
and the city of Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
.
These and other centres flowered, producing among their practitioners of mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and Kabbalah Solomon ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol, also Solomon ben Judah , was an Andalucian Hebrew poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neoplatonic bent. He was born in Málaga about 1021; died about 1058 in Valencia.-Biography:...
, Isaac the Blind
Isaac the Blind
Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor רַבִּי יִצְחַק סַגִּי נְהוֹר, also known as Isaac the Blind, has the Aramaic epithet "Saggi Nehor" meaning "of Much Light" in the sense of having excellent eyesight, an ironic euphemism for being blind. He was a famous writer on Kabbalah...
and Nachmanides. During this period Kabbalists incorporated into their expositions and exegeses a degree of Neoplatonic emanationism, called Ein Sof
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
by kabbalists, that conformed to the requirements of Jewish theology and philosophy, though, to some extent, in medieval times, it conflicted with the Aristotelian
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
approach to Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
by Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
and his followers.
A fellow of the Temenos Academy
Temenos Academy
Temenos Academy is a teaching organisation in London dedicated to creative spirituality.Its origin was in 1980, when the Temenos Review was launched by Kathleen Raine, Keith Critchlow, Brian Keeble and Philip Sherrard to publish creative work which acknowledged spirituality as a prime need for...
, UK, instituted by the poet, Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Jessie Raine was a British 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 Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founder member of the Temenos Academy.-Life:Raine was...
, Halevi regularly lectures there. http://www.temenosacademy.org/temenos_key_individuals.html He has taught groups on every continent, including at Interface Boston, the New York Open Centre; The Centre for Psychological Astrology, UK; Omega Institute; New York Kabbalah Society; the Jungian Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Karen Kabbalah, Atlanta, as well as in synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s and at rabbinical colleges. He is the Director of Tutors for the Kabbalah Society
Kabbalah Society
The Kabbalah Society is a New York-based organisation founded to promote what it states is the Toledano Tradition of Kabbalah, initially researched, and now taught by Warren Kenton...
and for many years ran a series of Kabbalah courses at Regent's College
Regent's College
Regent's College is located in Regent's Park, London, England. It is one of the two largest groups of buildings in the park, along with the London Zoo, and was built on the site of South Villa, one of the original eight Regent's Park villas....
in London.
He travels widely and runs 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. http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/theosophy/circles/kenton1.htm. Over the years, he has also taken part in a series of interviews for various media.
Halevi is as well known a writer as he is a teacher, having published 18 books, including a kabbalistic novel and books on astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
and kabbalistic astrology. Contemporary astrologers such as Judy Hall refer to the work he has done on the latter. http://www.astrozero.co.uk/articles/chain.htm, p. 22. In the earlier part of his career he wrote a number of books on stagecraft
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
. Both he and his work on the Toledano Tradition are publicly recognised. and his work has now been translated into over thirteen languages, including Hebrew.
Many of his publications are issued under his Hebrew name, Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi, a contraction of his full family name of Z’ev ben Shimon ben Joshua Haham-Halevi. Both of his families were Levite
Levite
In Jewish tradition, a Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their inheritance"...
s, according to family records. When his grandfather migrated to England in 1900 the name Haham was recorded as Kaufman; it was later changed to Kenton.http://www.kabbalahsociety.org/halevi.html
Influence
Charles, Prince of WalesIn an introduction to the Sacred Web Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, September 23/24, 2006 at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
in 2006, the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
, a Patron of the Temenos Academy, said, when talking of the tension between Tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
and Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
:
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 LifeTree of life (Kabbalah)The Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to God and the manner in which he created the world ex nihilo...
. 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 balance.http://www.sacredweb.com/conference06/conference_introduction.html
There is a DVD that includes this portion of the Prince's talk on the World Wisdom website. http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/details.aspx?ID=251
Kathleen Raine
The poet, Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Jessie Raine was a British 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 Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founder member of the Temenos Academy.-Life:Raine was...
, 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
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
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
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1990 on Chrysalis Records.-Description:The critically acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts...
, "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 (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
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."http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.3.PAINT.%20CHARLES%20THOMSON.htm
Criticism
Professor of Kabbalah at Hebrew University of JerusalemHebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
has bemoaned the hijacking of 'kabbalah' by various "New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
" authors and has given Halevi as an example. In his work The Heart and the Fountain: An Anthology of Jewish Mystical Experiences, he writes at Introduction footnote 57: "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 Parpola
Simo Parpola is a Finnish archaeologist, currently professor of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki. He specialized in epigraphy of the Akkadian language, and has been working on the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project since 1987...
."