Synopsis:
Beautiful and precocious Rivka is a twelve-year-old Jewish girl who believes in Jesus. She and her father attend a Messianic Jewish congregation in their community. But when her father suddenly dies, Rivka’s life changes forever. She ends up moving in with her traditional Jewish relatives and attending their synagogue… “The Sound of the Spirit” is the never-before-told story of a young girl caught in the crossfire of strong feelings between two faith communities.

– Kingdom Pictures

Review:
This gentle movie brings a huge message for those who can hear it. The Sound of the Spirit is a story about a young girl who loses her father suddenly and is thrust into a world of a similar yet different faith, and how she lives her beliefs with quiet resolve.

Rivka and her father are Messianic Jews, estranged from their Jewish relatives because of their belief in Jesus (Yeshua) as the Messiah. Sidney, her uncle and father’s brother, can’t seem to find middle ground with his brother and his beliefs and backs out of a promise he made to care for Rivka should anything happen to her father. Rivka’s mother had already passed away previously, so when her father dies suddenly, Sidney and his wife, Jackie find themselves with no other choice but to take her in.

Tensions are high as she is still grieving her loss and Sidney is still strongly against her Messianic faith. While her aunt, Jackie is more understanding, even the new synagogue she is attending is trying to eliminate any possibility of their young people being drawn to Christianity. The synagogue is even paying to have an “anti-missionary” come to help their congregants be able to “defend” their faith from Messianic Judaism.

Rivka meets new friends, faces challenges to her beliefs from her elders and peers, is ostracized, and has pressure of deciding whether or not to have her bat mitzvah at the new synagogue. An old friend of her father encourages her to not listen to voices of all that is going around her, but to listen for the “sound of the Spirit” – the still, small voice of God.

This is an excellent movie that gives a good view of the conflict between Judaism and Messianic Judaism. It also shows Rivka in a sincere and realistic light. She struggles with very human feelings of betrayal and anger when people hurt her, but her faith is strong and very real to her. It shows how she found her way through those things to the “sound of the Spirit” and how in the end, love, simple and pure conquers all and never fails.

There is no objectionable content that I noticed in the film, except some cleavage of one character. Tensions run high, but there is no language, sex, nudity, or violence.

– B. Payne