Our Staff

Julia Knobloch, Student Rabbi

We welcome Julia Knobloch as BKB’s Student Rabbi for 2023-2024. Julia will be a fourth-year student at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles this fall.

Julia has an M.A. in Philosophy and Romance languages and years of experience as a journalist. She is a former TV-producer in her native Germany. More recently, Julia has worked for the URJ and for UJA-Federation of New York before starting rabbinical school.

Julia recently completed her third year of rabbinical school in Jerusalem. During her recent year of studies in Jerusalem, she supported the rabbi on Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava by leading services, teaching classes and facilitating poetry workshops.

Julia is the author of two collections of poetry and in 2021 was awarded an AJU Word Grant for her community building efforts.

Julia loves the desert, the mountains, and the sea — so California is a perfect place for her to be, and she can’t wait to meet everyone at Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar.

 Alan Henkin, Rabbi Emeritus

After four years as BKB’s part time rabbi, Rabbi Alan Henkin retired in June 2022. Rabbi Henkin previously served as the Congregation’s full-time rabbi throughout the 1990s. During this time, Rabbi Henkin demonstrated exceptional creativity, skills and passion in his leadership of worship services, Jewish education for all ages, and pastoral work. Because of his exceptional service to BKB, BKB honored Rabbi Henkin with the title of Rabbi Emeritus and renamed the BKB Religious School Fund the Rabbi Alan Henkin Religious Fund upon his retirement.

Before Rabbi Henkin returned to BKB in 2018, he had retired as the Director of Placement for the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the North American rabbinic organization of Reform rabbis. He continued to assist the CCAR as a special consultant and Placement Director Emeritus. Prior to that, for eleven years he served as the Regional Director for the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform Movement in Judaism. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California’s School of Religion, and he served Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf for ten years, becoming fluent in sign language.

Rabbi Henkin has four adult children and five grandchildren. He returned to the Antelope Valley in 2017 to be close to his children and grandchildren. Rabbi Henkin is a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, and he is absolutely convinced they only won the World Series in 2016 because every night during the Series he wore a different Cubs outfit.

Temple Administrator Tina Spohn

Temple Administrator Tina Spohn joined BKB in the Spring of 2018. Her office hours are 8 am to 12 pm Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

In addition to her professional duties, Tina has become an active participant in BKB activities such as the Pastrami Booth.