Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi (Warren Kenton 1933-2020) was born in London to a traditional Jewish family with a Sefardi Levite heritage. His early education and career were in visual arts before he became a writer and teacher of Kabbalah.
He started his esoteric studies with the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky system and astrology. When he encountered Kabbalah, he recognised the importance of the Tree of Life as a blueprint of the universal laws of Existence. His life’s mission was to update the ancient and medieval teaching of Kabbalah for our times by relating it to science and psychology as well as religious topics.
Halevi’s particular contribution was Jacob’s Ladder, a detailed system of four interlocking Worlds explaining how the Divine, spiritual, psychological and physical levels interact.
The diagrams of the Tree of Life and Jacob’s Ladder are the framework for exploring the Divine, spiritual, psychological and physical levels of Existence.
Halevi wrote over 17 books on Kabbalah which were translated into 16 languages. He lectured, held workshops, conducted study groups and taught students worldwide for over 50 years. His legacy continues to grow in both individual and group work worldwide. The books and study articles provide written source material, while audio and video recordings transmit the oral teaching by Halevi as well.
A more detailed account of Halevi’s life can be found in his autobiography The Path of a Kabbalist (2009).
Happy Celestial Birthday!
We celebrate Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi who would have turned 90 on January 8, 2023 with a celestial birthday video as well as testimonials from students and spiritual companions from around the world
A true Capricorn
Warren Kenton, who wrote under his Hebrew name, Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi, taught that existence was, at its heart, ordered and balanced. He also taught that every aspect of the Tree of Life was important and must be acknowledged and experienced.
In addition to hours of contemplation and secluded writing, Warren spent much time outdoors, socializing and enjoying his life with warmth and humor.
So please celebrate as we wish Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi a very happy celestial birthday!!
Testimonials from students and companions around the world
“First of all, I really want to thank you. Your books have been a very important part of my life this year, from the moment I discovered the first one. I have a little group of friends with whom I meet to study your books one day per month. We also use the beautiful meditations you sent me.”
Argentina
“The insight that I gained from your words is priceless. It gives me great comfort to know that I am on the right track towards fulfilling my life’s purpose. Furthermore, studying Kabbalah with you has led me to accept life as it is and to be at peace with the natural flow of things.”
The Netherlands
“A few years back, I had the honour of showing you around Cape Town for 5 days. Now reading your wonderful books, I would like to thank you with all my heart for the inspiration.”
South Africa
“I thought some more about the presentation and what caused me to weep then. It often takes me a while to decipher the information. It was the feeling that the Jewish mystical tradition was coming through in its purest form. Many Jewish souls and spirits thank you.”
USA
“Kabbalah changed and supported my life. Kabbalah gives me new point of view about my relationship and about Japan itself. The world of Shinto is opened to me and I’m trying to find the meeting of West and East. I was given the purpose of life. I can’t have words of express my gratitude. Big love from Japan.”
Japan
“Without you, dearest Warren, we would probably have been seekers still. Thanks to Kabbalah, we have found home. Without your books and your guidance for starting the Swedish group, it would not exist.”
Sweden
“From the first time I attended the Thursday night group, and later bigger groups like Summer School, until now, I have been gloriously awestruck at how our Teacher, Warren enables so many individuals from so many different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, cultures, classes, professions, to become unified body, mind, soul and spirit; a disciplined, yet joyful vessel to catch the dew of Heaven.”
UK
“It is always an extraordinary experience, for each time we reread one of your books we find new insights which deepen our understanding. As we learn more about Kabbalah, we learn more about ourselves and receive priceless answers.”
Mexico
“My opinion is that you have done a great service to humanity in ensuing that valuable knowledge and wisdom are not lost and will provide a stepping stone for posterity.”
New Zealand
“I would like to thank you for all your books and teachings of Kabbalah; your writings and knowledge have so enriched my life and given me comfort in these, my later years. Indeed, without your teaching of Kabbalah, I would have found it difficult to continue life, following the death of my dear wife. I am now greatly comforted and have a very different outlook and understanding of life.
UK

Videos
Halevi talks about his ancestors and how they arrived in London
Halevi talks about his early background
Halevi in his study and discussing his Wall of Contemplation
Books

The Path of a Kabbalist
In his autobiography, Halevi sets out his spiritual journey amid the drama of life, which he perceives as a process of development, indicating how his unfolding fate is part of a Providential scheme.
Tribute to Halevi
Obituary by Joanna Lapage-Browne
Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi, also known as Warren Kenton, died on 21 September 2020 at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Rebekah. A man of wisdom and spiritual stature together with a sense of humour and practical nature, he used his long life to the full in his task of updating and clarifying the tradition of Kabbalah for our times.
Born into a traditional Jewish family in London on 8 January 1933, he spent much of his childhood in the area around High Wycombe where his family moved to avoid the bombing in the Second World War. It was here in the Chiltern Hills, where the rich history of the area, the beauty of the fields and the woods, and the impact of the war, left a deep impression on him.
He moved to London, which he explored extensively with his love of history, and studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and the Royal Academy School. His training as a graphic artist and a book illustrator came to good use later when he selected images for the revised editions of his books. He said, in art school, he learned to see, which made him think creatively rather than academically. He also drew human faces and observed characters which taught him about psychology. This became useful later when doing horoscopes.
He chose to spend his national service first in mental hospitals, and then in a large London teaching hospital and it was here he observed, at first hand, human psychology in life and death. He then returned to his love of art and took up a scholarship at the Royal Academy and School of Painting after which he found employment in theatre workshops. His time there gave him the practical skills to improvise and invent with all manner of materials, an aptitude that brought him much pleasure which continued into his old age and evident in the extensive collection of tools and raw materials he left behind.
His early enthusiasm for telescopes developed into an interest in astrology and esoteric teachings. He went on to explore the inner dimensions of various religions and philosophies but soon realised there was only one Teaching, and that was universal. It was in a Gurdjieff-Ouspensky school that he met a friend who instructed a small study group in astrology and introduced him to Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. He recognised and remembered the Tree of Life and saw its precision in explaining how the microcosm and the macrocosm came together. It was here that the extended form of the Tree of life was reformulated and called Jacob’s Ladder. He started to look deeper into his own Jewish heritage and found hidden treasures in its traditions and vast mythology. Teaching and writing about Kabbalah became his life’s work.
Halevi began to write on Kabbalah in the early 1970s while living in a small flat near Holland Park, setting out the four worlds of Action, Formation, Creation, and Emanation in terms of the body, psyche, spirit, and Divine elements in a human being. He made a point of studying other schools of the soul and meeting their teachers which enriched his understanding of the way that the Teaching is matched to different cultures and times.
His specific calling was to update the tradition of Kabbalah. He recognised the need to clear away the complexity and mystification that had accumulated over many centuries and to apply its universal principles to topics such as psychology, astrology, religion, and science. His particular contribution was to describe and fill in the triads of the Tree of Life diagram and to set out the Tree of the Psyche in great detail. His work on the Jacob’s Ladder diagram revealed how the physical, psychological, spiritual and divine worlds interact so that we, as Divine organs of perception, might ‘aid God to behold God’. His legacy is an integrated system and a contemplative working method.
While Halevi passed on the tradition of Kabbalah in his writings, he also ran study groups and meditations in his iconic ‘room’, filled with diagrams, sacred objects, and bookshelves of esoterica and, of course, his beloved telescopes. The same ‘room’ moved with him through all his various homes. His teaching was marked by its relevance to life experience and history, together with the vital element of humour, a tradition deeply embedded in Jewish culture. His telling of jokes is memorable.
Over 50 years, he taught groups, ran workshops, and lectured in other schools, such as the Theosophical Society and the Temenos Academy of which he was a fellow. He taught in many countries including Europe, North and South America, Japan, Israel, Egypt, Australia, and South Africa, and also led pilgrimages to sacred sites. Halevi’s school, the Kabbalah Society, is also called the Toledano Tradition, which refers to its lineage from classical Spanish Kabbalah and reflects the time in medieval Toledo when Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived in peace and exchanged ideas.
Halevi advised many people privately, often using their horoscopes to gain insights into themselves and their life situations using his discerning knowledge of astrology and Kabbalistic principles. Central to his teaching is that the practice of Kabbalah is through personal experience and insight.
His seventeen books on Kabbalah, including astrology and a novel, have been translated and are available as foreign editions in sixteen different languages. The revised editions of his books are also available as eBooks.
Halevi was much loved by his many students and friends worldwide who will miss him greatly. The world has lost a visionary-wise one.
Memorial slideshow
Shown at the memorial for Halevi, attended by many of his students from around the world.