Chaim Scheiber (later Sheba) was born in Frasin, near Gurahumora, Bukovina, then in Austria-Hungary (now Suceava County, Romania), to the well known Scheiber Hasidic family, a descendant of the Hasidic court of Ruzhin. As a young child he studied in heder, a school for religious studies only. He transferred from there to the 8th grade in a secular school.