smallest hardest crossword

[ji]

4 letter word - raised platform in synagogue also

2 letter word - running water

[brian j john]

are you sure it's a 4 letter word because i think the raised platform is a BIMAH but there again be a DIAS

[Chessman]

We are a Jewish family, and brian j is not only right, the spelling is right also, afraid you'll have to keep looking.

[Clanad]

I've seen the word spelled Bema often... check here for one reference:

An apse, a rounded raised recess 2.4 m. deep, was built into the southern wall of the synagogue and served as a bema on which the Torah Ark stood, with three steps leading up to it. At a later time, another bema in the shape of a bench was added between the two southern pillars on the eastern side of the prayer hall. A one meter-deep depression lined with stones below the floor of the bema probably served as the synagogue's treasury. When opened during the excavations it contained thirty-six Byzantine bronze coins. (Source: Jewish Virtual Library)

[David H]

2 letter word is ea, dialect for river from French eau. Common Scrabble word.