Philip M. Raskin was born on December 24, 1880, in Shklov, Russia, and received his education in secular studies and Hebrew studies in Russia, Switzerland, and England before working as a staff member of the Health Department of the City of Leeds in Yorkshire, England. In 1914, he published his first poetry collection, Songs of a Jew (George Routledge & Sons), and the following year, he immigrated to the United States.