Shimshi was born in Tel Aviv, to Haya Rivka (Kuklanski) and Avraham Shimshi, who had immigrated to Mandate Palestine from Lithuania in 1933 [REF].
She studied at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv from 1956-59, with Avigdor Stematsky, Yehezkel Streichman, and Moshe Mokady [REF].