Reform Get, Reference Page (Central Conference of American Rabbis)

The CCAR's own reference page states that the 1869 Philadelphia rabbinical conference "declared that divorce was a purely civil matter and needed no religious steps whatsoever. Therefore, a get was not necessary," though two rabbis present, Sonnenschein and Mielziner, dissented and wished the get modified rather than abolished. It records Kaufmann Kohler's later view that civil divorces should be recognized where their grounds matched rabbinic tradition, though this was never brought to an official Conference vote, and confirms Reform's continued acceptance of civil divorce without a traditional get, with remarriage proceeding within the Reform framework using a "Seder Peridah" (Document of Separation) in place of the get.