Rabbi Chalafta, also called Abba Chalafta, was a Tanna of the third generation who lived between the first and second centuries CE. He lived in Tzippori in the Galilee, where he led the community. He was the father of the Tanna Rabbi Yossi and the grandfather of Rabbi Yishmael bar Rabbi Yossi. One hypothesis holds that his father was Abba Chagra. The Jerusalem Talmud records that his family traced its descent to Yehonadav ben Rechav, and other sources count him among the kohanim.

He apparently lived in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period: the Talmud (Shabbat 115a) relates that he told of seeing Rabban Gamliel the Elder on the Temple Mount. The Talmud (Sotah 34a) also relates that he went with Rabbi Elazar ben Matya and Rabbi Chanania ben Chachinai to see the stones that Yehoshua bin Nun had set up in the Jordan. His colleagues were Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah.

The Mishnah (Taanit 2:5) records a fast-day prayer practice “in the days of Rabbi Chalafta and Rabbi Chanania ben Teradion”: the prayer leader completed each blessing and the kohanim sounded the shofar. When the matter came before the Sages, they said that this custom was practiced only at the Eastern Gate and on the Temple Mount.

The sources know of two sages called Abba Chalafta: the father of Rabbi Yossi, and Rabbi Chalafta ben Dosa of Kfar Chanania, whose teaching on the Divine Presence among those who study Torah is quoted in Pirkei Avot (3:6). Some identify the two, while others distinguish them, the latter being a student of Rabbi Meir.

As early as the twelfth century, the traveller Yaakov ben Netanel HaKohen described the grave of Rabbi Chalafta and his son Rabbi Yossi at the site of today's village of Kfar Chanania in the Galilee. His hilloula is held there together with that of his son.