I read online that one cannot take a shortcut from one area of the shul to another if it cuts through the area of the bimah. The pertinent line is:
Just as the Mizbeiach was elevated, our Bimah, too, is elevated. The elevation is not just for better acoustics or line of sight, it is minhag Yisrael, to the extent that one is prohibited from taking a shortcut from one side of the shul to the other by way of the Bimah platform, because the platform is considered a different, and more holy, reshus.
Is this actually the case and if so what is the source for this?