Question
Dear Rabbi, I am in the process of shopping for a burial plot at a cemetery in my area. A cemetery that I'm looking at, from what I was told, has Jewish sections and non-Jewish sections of the cemetery. Is there any prohibitions regarding a Jew being buried in a cemetery that also has non-Jewish sections? Doesn't the Mount of Olives behind the Temple have non-Jewish sections?

Question
Dear Rabbi, I know the Bar Mitzvah age is 13 and 12 for Bat Mitzvah. Is there any rational explanation for this? Does something special happen to the person at these ages that makes them turn into adults for the sake of Jewish practices?

Question
I’ve seen Jewish parents educate their children to perform mitzvahs before bar or bat mitzvah age, which I assume is to ready them for being adults. Why then do I not see young boys wearing or owning tefillin? Thanks for this helpful service.
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Question
Hi Rabbi, we are expecting our first child, a boy. How do we decide who should be Sandek (the person who holds the baby at the circumcision)? Each of our fathers wants the honor but it’s stressing my wife out (and me too!). Any advice you have for us about choosing while avoiding family politics and drama would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Question
I have a question for your "Ask the Rabbi" series. At a Jewish wedding the groom places the glass under his foot and smashes it into several pieces. What is the significance of this act? I have a friend who is soon to be married and he asked me this question.
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Question
Good Morning Rebbeim - My (Jewish) friend just passed away. Unfortunately he had gone off the derech in a big way - married out, converted to Christianity (or so he thought), baptized his children - the whole nine yards. Is it proper to arrange Kaddish from him? And if his parents don't know the Hebrew name of their son (or their own for that matter), how is Kaddish said? Thank you.