Akiva ben Joseph,

Many esoteric Jewish texts are rather voluminous (think of the compilation which is the Zohar). If you find that daunting, the good news about the Sepher Yezirah is that it is extremely short. It is so short that my copy (published by AMORC) has Hebrew text on odd numbered pages, English translation on facing even numbered pages, extensive end notes, a glossary, a preface by the translator (Isador Kalisch) and is still only sixty one pages. The basic ideas of this ancient text (some modern scholars believe it may date back to the first century CE) are that the Lord created the cosmos by speaking (Hebrew of course) and tremendous divine power inheres in the characters of the Hebrew alphabet. It was a common idea among ancient people (and contemporary tribal cultures) that the name of a thing is a part of the very thing itself. Hence the great power attributed to names and language generally. Early in the text comes the description of the ten spheres (the first ten numbers) being creating in sequence like a flash of lightning. Then comes a description of three ranks of Hebrew characters (mother, double and simple letters) and how these were emanated and their qualities. There are also sections relating the Hebrew characters to various things such as as the directions (above, below, before, behind, etc.) and parts of the human body, and other schemes.… (more)