Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, returns to Tidewater

Jay Klebanoff — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:03:32 +0000

Thursday, October 23, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus

Esteemed Israeli American journalist, Yaakov Katz, returns to Tidewater this month to speak about his newly released book, While Israel Slept, the most comprehensive journalistic treatment to date of the tragic circumstances that led to the horrific events perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel’s Gaza Envelope.

Katz, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, co-authored While Israel Slept with fellow journalist, Amir Bohbot. This is the fourth book by Katz, who also authored, Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, Weapon Wizards – How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower, and Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.

In While Israel Slept, Katz and Bohbot try to explain the inexplicable – the dichotomy between an Israeli intelligence network considered one of the most advanced in the world – capable of the incredible pager bombing of Hezbollah in Lebanon – yet allowed an above-ground incursion in the early morning hours of October 7 by thousands of Palestinian terrorists intent on murdering, raping, and kidnapping Israelis living in the kibbutzim and cities just outside of Gaza.

The authors describe the history of Hamas, including a story about the Israeli doctor who operated on Hamas’ terrorist leader, Yahya Sinwar, while Sinwar was imprisoned in Israel. The authors also delve into the reason behind the false sense of security multiple Israeli governments developed regarding the threat posed by Hamas pre-October 7.

Katz and Bohbot utilize their intimate knowledge of and access to Israeli Defense Force leadership to present a blow-by-blow account of the days and hours leading up to the pre-dawn attack on October 7, an attack that agonizingly included the killing and kidnapping of the IDF female intelligence operatives in the Nahal Oz outpost who first detected unusual activity in Gaza prior to October 7 and whose warnings went unheeded by their superiors.

While Israel Slept goes on to describe the obstacles faced and decisions made by IDF leadership in determining how to prosecute the war intended to, in the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “eradicate Hamas.” There are stories of heartache and heroism and, for those who want to know more about the details surrounding October 7 and more about the details of how Israel is fighting this war, Katz and Bohbot have written the most comprehensive book to date, taking advantage of the access these respected journalists have to the right experts and information.

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater is fortunate to host Yaakov Katz so soon after the release of his book and the evening should present an opportunity to ask this expert his thoughts on this longest war in Israel’s history and his prediction for Israel’s path forward in Gaza after the war.

For more information or to register to attend the event, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday or contact Nofar Trem at NTrem@UJFT.org.

This event is presented as part of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, and Community Partners’ 15th Annual Israel Today Series and the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. It is supported in part by the citizens of Virginia Beach through a grant from the City of Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission and held in coordination with the Jewish Book Council, the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the support and celebration of Jewish literature

John Feigenbaum at the center of the U.S. coin industry

Jay Klebanoff — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:28:10 +0000

From a tidy and unassuming office on the second floor of his office building in Virginia Beach, John Feigenbaum, a local Jewish community member, sits on a raised chair before his elevated computer screen and sets the pricing used by coin dealers throughout the United States for their trading of domestic collector coins.

Feigenbaum, who ironically has no collection of his own, has become a central figure in the world of U.S. numismatics – aka, coin collecting. He has reached his lofty perch following three separate times in his life when he planned to pursue avenues outside the industry.

Now, far from leaving the business, Feigenbaum has endeavored to almost single-handedly bring the U.S. coin industry into the modern and digital age. Partnering with an investing group, he has doubled down on the industry by purchasing two of the longest standing, most respected pricing publications – The Grey Sheet and The Official Red Book; guides Feigenbaum has relied on since his very early days of coin collecting and coin dealing with his father, David Lawrence Feigenbaum, of blessed memory.

Feigenbaum recalls that, “at the age of five or six I was tagging along with my father at coin shows in South Florida, where my dad was studying for his PhD in marine biology and building his coin collection. By seven and eight I was sitting behind a folding table with my dad at coin shows, interacting with adults who were trying to take advantage of a young kid.”

The father-son informal partnership continued into the 1980’s as Feigenbaum’s father assumed a professorship at Old Dominion University and transitioned from coin collecting to coin dealing. Feigenbaum continued to accompany his father at coin shows around the country and used his precocious insight and instincts to help his father build his business.

“My father enjoyed setting up our table and interacting with people as they stopped by. I immediately headed out into the room to hunt for deals – what we call cherry-picking. I loved working the floor.”

But despite gaining extensive knowledge of coins and keen trading skills, the younger Feigenbaum did not plan on joining his father in business after he graduated from Virgina Tech in 1991 with a marketing degree and a “fascination for desktop publishing.”

“My heroes were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates,” Feigenbaum recalls. “I wanted to develop a marketing and computer graphics business – which was really catching on in the early 90’s – and then head to Colorado. I had no interest in joining the coin business.”

Feigenbaum gave up his quest for the Rockies, though, when a friendship with a fellow Hokie, Rachael Scott, grew into something more; leading to the couple settling in Virginia Beach and marrying in 1993. “Once Rachael and I started dating,” Feigenbaum recalls, “I didn’t want to leave.”

Feigenbaum began building an advertising graphics company and continued assisting his father at coin shows. “I was burning the candle at both ends and it got to be too much,” Feigenbaum says. “I also realized I could achieve quicker success in the coin world, so in 1992 I joined my father full time, not knowing if the business could support both of us.”

Over the next four years the Feigenbaum duo did build David Lawrence Rare Coins into a successful dealership that amply supported both families. But Feigenbaum, who always envisioned being his own boss, began to bristle at his father’s more academic approach to the business. “By 1996 I was ready to leave, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do,” Feigenbaum says. “I was probably six months away from leaving when, out of the blue, my father was diagnosed with ALS. I knew he needed me then and I took on more of the load as his health declined.” (David Feigenbaum passed away in 2002 after a six-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS).

Feigenbaum ran David Lawrence Rare Coins until 2017, years during which he gained the trust of some of the foremost coin collectors in the United States and abroad. He experienced sourcing and ultimately purchasing the rare 1894-S Barber dime – worth more than $1 million – and also led the auction of a prized coin collection worth more than $24 million.

Yet, despite building a successful business and reputation in numismatics, Feigenbaum was ready for a change by 2015. He wanted to sell the business and pursue other ventures – and not necessarily in the coin industry. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Feigenbaum says.

But as fate would have it, Feigenbaum learned during a casual conversation with a business friend that the venerable Grey Sheet, the monthly pricing guide used by Feigenbaum and his father throughout their coin careers, was for sale. Feigenbaum quickly worked out a deal with some key players in the coin industry to purchase CDN Publishing – publishers of the Grey Sheet, and brought his computer graphics skills to bear in updating and improving the product while maintaining the Grey Sheet pricing integrity.

In 2017, Feigenbaum sold David Lawrence Rare Coins and began eyeing other publications to bring into the fold. Through consistent conversations over a number of years with Mary Burleson, president of the long standing and highly respected Whitman Publishing, Feigenbaum gained an inside track when Burleson intimated in 2023 that the owners of Whitman, following the death of one of the owners, might be willing to sell.

In short order Feigenbaum and his partners were able to purchase Whitman, publishers of a number of publications, including The Official Red Book, the most comprehensive guide to U.S. coins in the industry. As he did with Grey Sheet, Feigenbaum boldly revamped Red Book, making it more lively and user friendly.

Now Feigenbaum, who planned on three occasions to leave the coin industry, is the owner and publisher of the premier monthly and premier annual publication in the world of U.S. numismatics, an empire he runs from his unassuming perch on Laskin Road – with accounting assistance from his favorite CPA, wife, Rachael.

And while the couple is immersed in the world of coins, they also participate in the Tidewater Jewish community, with Rachael having served as chair of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission and John supporting a host of Jewish causes. When asked why he feels strongly about participating, Feigenbaum says, “Taking care of people in need is a very important part of our society and I don’t know a better way to insert myself into society than through Jewish causes.”

Jay Klebanoff | Jewish News

Yaakov Katz, former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, returns to Tidewater

Thursday, October 23, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus

John Feigenbaum at the center of the U.S. coin industry