R. Mordecai Rubio (18th century), spent his childhood in Jerusalem, where his aptitude for scholarly work was already evident. He acquired his Torah education in the bet ha-midrash of R. Isaac ha-Kohen, a prominent Jerusalem hakham of that period. After Rubio had moved to Hebron, R. Isaac ha-Kohen received a difficult query from Turkey on the subject of hetter agunah (permission to remarry for a wife whose husband has disappeared). He had it transferred to R. Rubio in order to hear the latter's opinion on the matter. R. Isaac wrote an enthusiastic approval to R. Rubio's responsum and referred to his disciple as "the friend of my soul, the perfect hakham" (Responsa, Shemen ha-Mor (1793), "Even ha-Ezer," 31).

R. Rubio also distinguished himself as a communal worker, and in 1742 he traveled to the oriental countries as the emissary of Hebron in order to raise financial support. In the late 1760s he set out on a second mission. His communal work and Torah erudition secured him a leading position among the hakhamim of Hebron. He was one of the leading hakhamim of the Keneset Yisrael yeshivah and was appointed head of the Hesed le-Avraham Emet le-Ya'akov yeshivah. In 1774 R. Rubio was appointed rabbi of Hebron. During the following years his signature appears on important documents of the community, including R. H. J. D. Azulai's credentials as an emissary (1775), those of R. Hayyim Abraham Israel Ze'evi (1774), and various haskamot ("letters of approval"). His work of responsa, Shemen ha-Mor ("Oil of the Myrrh"), was published after his death, by his son R. Abraham, who was Hebron's emissary in Leghorn.

הסכמות: ר' יום טוב אלגאזי, ירושלם, ראה תק"ן; רבני חברון: ר' נחמיא גדיליא, ר' מיכאל הכהן, ר' מיוחס אלעזר בכ"ר יוסף, ר' יעקב אלגאזי, ר' יששכר חסון, ר' יעקב תורגימאן, ר' יוסף משה אלגאזי, ר' חיים הלוי, ר' רפאל שבתי הכהן, אלול תק"ן.