Located on the border of the Shephelah and the Israeli coastal plain around 2 kilometres northeast of Kiryat Malakhi, it is the largest community under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council.

The moshav was founded at the end of 1956 by Jewish refugees and immigrants to Israel from Morocco, and was named after the Rif (medieval rabbi Isaac Alfasi), one of the great codifiers of Jewish law, who lived in Fez, Morocco.

[citation needed]) Kfar HaRif was founded on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian Arab village of Al-Masmiyya al-Saghira.

[2] When it was founded, it joined the sector "HaMa'amad HaBeinoni" (the middle position) – a group of moshavim where the people who settled there paid for the economy they constructed, as opposed to most moshavim, which received their property for free from the government.

[citation needed]) In recent years, most residents have worked outside the community, while some continue to maintain an agricultural economy.