Burla was born in 1886 in Jerusalem, then part of the Ottoman Empire, to a Sephardi Jewish family with rabbinical roots, originating from Izmir.[1] As a child, he lived in the Ezrat Yisrael neighborhood near the corner of Jaffa Road and King George Street.[2] Until the age of 18, he had a religious education, studying at yeshiva and beth midrash.