In the movie PI, (spoiler alert - skip this paragraph if you don't want to know) the protagonist is a genius mathematician who has figured out a series of numbers which can predict lottery numbers and horse races. However, the number always seems to stop at a crucial point which drove the man's mentor crazy and threatens to do the same to him. Finally he is able to push past this stumbling block only to discover the number is found everywhere; absolutely everywhere including every leaf, raindrop, rock, person, etc. He had discovered the name of God which is written into everything. By the way, it's a very good movie.
The Jewish priests would go into the "holy of holies" in the ancient Temple of Jerusalem (where the Ark of the Covenant was located). There, they would whisper the name of God, out of earshot from the congregation. Supposedly, to actually say the name out loud could cause the priest terrible anguish or death. The name has power, but then the Jewish people have always believed words and names have power. Most cultures have believed this. This is where the idea of blessings and curses comes from. Many religions believe if you know the name of a demon (or Djin, or elemental, etc.) you can control it. God's name is raw; it's neither a curse nor a blessing; it's the building block of the universe, a creative force in itself. Before there was anything there was the word. The word was the name.
Of course this could be all mythology, religious tradition, magic, but many people really believe this. Let's just leave it there, I don't want to get into a discussion about whether or not religious beliefs are real or mere beliefs.
After the Temple was destroyed in 70AD by Rome, the priestly caste was wiped out and the Rabbis, the schoolteachers took over. Since there are no more priests many traditions are now forgotten or forbidden. Without a priest and a Temple, for instance, sacrificing animals is now forbidden. Writing or saying the name of God is not expressly forbidden, but it would be considered outrageously rude to mispronounce the name of a guest in your home; imagine how rude it would be to mispronounce the name of your own God? Jews, instead use a variety of other terms such as Lord, Master, Creator, etc. Many Orthodox Jews refuse to even write the word God in fear that this word has become a proper name. Instead they will write G-d.
In the Bible Moses asks God what to call him. God replies that he is "to be", or per the other versions: "I am what I am", or "I am and always will be". This phrase is spelled with four letters (known to Catholics as the Tetragram) YHVH. In Greek the Y and J are the same letter. The usual substitute for Jewish people who do not wish to pronounce the word YHVH is Adonai (Lord). A sixteenth century German Christian scribe, while transliterating the Bible into Latin for the Pope, wrote the name out as it appeared in his texts, with the consonants of YHVH and the vowels of Adonai, and came up with the word JeHoVaH, and the name stuck.
According to some Kabbalistic texts (Ancient Jewish Mysticism) and some traditions, these four letters are only four of a total 72 letters in the actual name of God. The Hebrew alphabet, like the Greek one, is made up of letters which are also numbers. The Kabbalists used numbers to create words and vice versa. This is known as Gemmatria, or Numerology. Many places in the Torah (old Testament) reference specific numbers or numerical sequences. It would be difficult to separate which were words and which were numbers except for context. Supposedly, if one were to discover even one more letter to add to the four, immense power would be open to the person uttering the name. Imagine what knowing six or seven letters would mean. Now imagine knowing all 72 letters.
As you can see, the movie PI really taps into something ancient here. It's no wonder the poor protagonist mathematician is pursued by all manner of groups including Jews who want to stop him.
I'm not going to tell you how the movie ends.
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