Raphael was born on 29 April 1914 in Bethnal Green, London to Nathan, a machiner in a tailoring workshop and Fanny nee Kersh. He was the youngest of four children. In 1921, the family lived at Alfred Place in Leeds before moving back to to Bethnal Green in 1939. The 1939 Register lists Raphael as living with his family and working as a machiner at a Military works.

Raphael was killed serving in the Normandy Campaign.