1,851. Comments Made in the Course of Normal Conversation

Hilchos Geirushin 13:11

We also said in the previous chapter (halacha 12:16) that statements made by a non-Jew in the course of normal conversation can be relied upon to enable a woman to remarry. For example, if a non-Jew said, “How sad that person X died! He was so nice and he did a lot of good things for me!” Another example is if the non-Jew was speaking and he said, “We were traveling along and, all of a sudden, person Y who was with us collapsed and died. We were stunned that he died so suddenly.” Comments like this make it clear that his intention is not to testify, so his word is taken.

Hilchos Geirushin 13:12

If a Jew hears a non-Jew say such a thing in the course of normal conversation, he can testify that he heard it and it can be used to enable the widow to remarry. This is the case when there’s no ulterior motive. If there’s another reason why the non-Jew might make such a statement, it would not be admissible. For example, if a non-Jew told a Jew, “Perform this task for me or I’ll kill you like I killed person Z,” this is not considered making a statement in the course of normal conversation. Rather, his intention in this case is to scare the Jew.