Born Zippora Meirov in 1896 to Yehuda Meirov and Frida (née Meirovich) in Dvinsk in the Vitebsk region of the Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia) - a city that at that time almost half of its inhabitants were Jews. Her father was one of the "Lovers of Zion", and as a child she did not receive a primary education. Her younger brother is Shaul Avigur, one of the fighters of Tel Hai, one of the leaders of the Haganah, the commander of the Mossad LeAliyah Bet for most of its years, the deputy defense minister during the 1947–1949 Palestine war and the head of the Nativ organization.