Shmuel is a Yerushalmi, having grown up in one of the authentic neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and his Jewish identity is deeply rooted in the ethos of this unique city. In the IDF I served as a combat medic in an infantry unit in the Sinai Desert. He graduated from Haifa University with a BA in Philosophy and Jewish History, and from the Hebrew University with a MA in Communication.
Shmuel has been working as a tour guide since the early 1990s, guiding groups, individuals and families from different cultural backgrounds from all over the world. He drives a large and comfortable Ministry of Tourism-authorized van, and he lives in Jerusalem with his wife Esther (a social worker) and their two young sons.