levitas was born in the portobello area of dublin, where he attended st peters' school, a son of two yiddish-speaking jews fleeing pogroms in imperial russia: lithuanian-born harry and latvian-born leah. harry was prominent in the amalgamated jewish tailors', machinists' and pressers' union, and this led to his blacklisting by employers. as a result, in 1927, the family moved to glasgow, and max left education.