Margalit was born to Rivka and Eliyahu Shmul in Tel Aviv.

On 20.10.1931, a fifth-generation native of the Land of Israel. She was the oldest of eight children, four boys and four girls. The family was Religious Zionist, and it taught its children in the spirit of loving Israel and loving their fellow men. They lived in Neve Zedek, and the father sold antique furniture.

She studied in Neve Zedek Girls School, the Herzliya Gymnasium and the Geula Commercial High School. She also studied in a school for foreign languages. From age nine, she was a member of Beitar; at thirteen, she joined the IZL; at fifteen, Lehi. At first, she was assigned to the youth division, then to intelligence. She put up posters, disseminated materials and conducted surveillance. She also was trained with firearms and Zionist ideology. For a while, she was in Rishon LeZion in youth recruitment.

Her parents supported her, and her mother sometimes helped her prepare the glue for the posters. The parents also pretended not to notice when she stored weapons in their home. When the British arrested her for putting up posters, her father secured her release by paying her bail at the APC police station in Tel Aviv. She was released on parole by the juvenile court.

After the State was established, at the age of sixteen-and-a-half, she enlisted in the IDF at Sheikh Munis. She participated in the first IDF course to train young women as truckdrivers. She was first assigned to Battalion 82, then to commando Battalion 89. She drove various vehicles, accompanying the battalion through every battle until Nitzana. She was the driver for the battalion physician and for the quartermaster. After a year-and-a-half, she completed her military service.

She met her future husband Yaakov at Sheikh Munis, and they served together in Battalion 82. They met again in 1950, at the battalion reunion, and married in April of that year.

They have a daughter, Orli.

After her marriage, Margalit worked in the Engineering Corps for a year, then Bank Leumi, where she fulfilled many roles and took many courses. Her last position was running the marketing department for mortgages. She was active on the workers’ committee, particularly dealing with their welfare. She retired in 1996, after 42 years of successful work.

Margalit loves music and sang for fourteen years in a choir. For many years, she would personally serve meals to the needy. She displayed love for the nation, the land and people in general, values with which she was inculcated at home and through her years in Beitar, IZL and Lehi. The spirit of dedication, helpfulness and camaraderie she experienced in the underground shaped the course of her life.