Rabbi Yose ben Halafta

Rabbi Yose ben Halafta was one of the major Tannaim, the early rabbinic sages whose teachings helped form the Mishnah. He lived in the generation after Rabbi Akiva and was a student of Rabbi Akiva and other great sages. His opinions appear often in the Mishnah, where he is usually referred to simply as Rabbi Yose.

He is especially important for Jewish history because he is traditionally connected with Seder Olam Rabbah, one of the earliest Jewish chronology texts. This work organized biblical history into a timeline from Creation through the Second Temple period, making Rabbi Yose ben Halafta very relevant for any timeline of Jewish and Israelite history.