MENDES (Mendiz)

MENDES (Mendiz), family of rabbis and merchants in morocco and algeria of Spanish-Portuguese origin. JOSEPH MENDES (mid-16th century) was rabbi of the community of Spanish exiles (Heb., megorashim) in fez and a signatory of its takkanot. GIDEON (late 17–early 18th century), a merchant of amsterdam , served as consul of the Netherlands in Salé from 1703 and was active in promoting commerce and negotiating treaties with Morocco. His son JOSHUA was a merchant in Salé and in Amsterdam. A contemporary R. ISAAC was a rabbi and an international merchant in agadir and spent time in London trading with European countries. His son JACOB remained in Agadir and one of his daughters married the rabbi and thinker khalifa b. malca . -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 268–72; J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 107; SIHM, index.