Sulamith Low was born November 4, 1923, in Vienna, Austria. Goldhaber grew up in Palestine after her family emigrated out of Austria. She attended Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she met her future husband, Gerson Goldhaber. Goldhaber graduated with an M.Sc. in 1947, and was married to Gerson the same year. The Goldhabers moved to the United States to pursue doctorates at University of Wisconsin–Madison which they were awarded in 1951. The couple with their son Amos Nathaniel moved to Columbia University in New York City, where Gerson worked in the physics department, and Sulamith, despite her degree in physical chemistry, found work as an assistant to Jack Steinberger, working on what were then considered high energy experiments at the Nevis Laboratory of Columbia.