Tzvi was born in February 7, 1913 in Varėna, Lithuania to Liba and Simcha. His parents were committed Zionists who educated their children in this path. In 1920, the family moved to Poland, where the father was a merchant. Tzvi studied in school and the Hebrew Gymnasium in Suwałki, where he underwent military training in a government course. In 1934, after he completed his matriculation exams, he made aliyah and studied biology in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. He joined the El-Al National Students Organization, and after that he was recruited for Hagana Bet and IZL, serving from 1935. In 1938, he managed to bring his entire family to the Land of Israel from Poland. They settled in Herzliya.
With the split, he joined Lehi, joining the staff. From August 1940, he worked at the armory in Herzliya, storing firearms and explosives; he also ran the local intelligence bureau.
In November 1940, he was arrested by the CID and held first in Mizra and Latrun. Afterwards, he was among the first group of 251 exiles sent to Eritrea on 19 October 1944. On 24 January 1945, they were moved to Carthago, Sudan, then back to Eritrea.
Tzvi was released and sent back on 17 May 1946. He tried to go back to his farm in Herzliya, but after the bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel by IZL on 22 July 1946, he was re-arrested and imprisoned in Latrun for a few months. Once he was released, he went back to active duty with Lehi.
During the War of Independence, he served first with Lehi and then in the IDF, reaching the rank of captain by 1959.
In 1951, he married Livia Schaeffer, a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia. The couple had two children and numerous grandchildren.
After the end of his service in the IDF, he worked in the import and export of chemicals. Later he took up the hobby of sculpting in his Herzliya studio.