Rabbi Chaim Abulafia, called "the second" to distinguish him from his ancestor of the same name, was born in Hebron in 1660, the son of Rabbi Yaakov Abulafia, of a great rabbinic family exiled from Spain. In his youth his family moved to Jerusalem, where he studied at the Beit Yaakov yeshiva, then headed by Rabbi Moshe Galante, and learned as a chavruta of Rabbi Chizkiya da Silva, the Pri Chadash.

In 1699 the Jews of Hebron, crushed by taxes, asked him to go to Turkey as their emissary. After six years he returned to the Land of Israel and became rabbi of Safed; he often went to Tiberias, then in ruins for decades, to pray at the graves of the tzaddikim. From 1721 to 1740 he was rabbi of the community of Izmir, where he instituted many ordinances and was honoured even by Muslims. There he published his works: Mikraei Kodesh, Yosef Lekach on the Torah, Yashresh Yaakov, and Shevut Yaakov on Ein Yaakov.

In 1740, at the age of eighty, he returned to the Land of Israel at the invitation of Daher al-Omar, governor of Galilee, to rebuild the desolate town of Tiberias. He rebuilt the Jewish quarter, a synagogue and houses there, reviving a flourishing community; many saw this return as a sign of redemption. His grandson, Rabbi Chaim Nissim Abulafia, also became a great rabbi.

He passed away on 6 Nisan 5504 (1744) and rests in the old cemetery of Tiberias.