Shevah Weiss was born in Borysław, Lviv province, on 5 July 1935 into a Polish Jewish family. He was rescued by Ukrainians and Poles during the German occupation of Poland. The Weiss family was hidden from German soldiers by Poles and Ukrainians. He was given shelter by his neighbors in Borysław — the Góral and Potężny families, and Ukrainians Yulia Lasotova and Roman Szczepaniuk. As a Holocaust survivor, Weiss migrated to Palestine in 1947.

Weiss was a member of the Knesset from 1981 to 1999, and its chairman from 1992 to 1996. In 2000 he became a president of the Yad Vashem Council. From 2001 to 2003, he served as an Israeli Ambassador to Poland.

On 4 January 2004, for his contribution to the cooperation between Poland and Israel, he was awarded the Grand Cross (1st class) of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Shevah Weiss passed away on 3 February 2023. The funeral took place on Sunday on Mount Herzl (also Har ha-Zikaron) in Jerusalem.