His father was Nissan Yeivin, a descendant of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef ben Yehuda [he], from whom the family derived their surname.[1] His mother, Esther Yeivin [he], went on to become a noted women's rights activist and member of the Jewish National Council and Assembly of Representatives.[2] Following the 1905 Odessa pogrom, Esther and her children joined the Second Aliyah and emigrated to Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire.[2] Their father joined them in 1908, purchasing a farm in Gedera.[2] The family later moved to Tel Aviv, where Shemuel studied at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium.[2]