Were tithes paid on mortgaged land?

Question

according to the law God commanded the Israelis to bring tithes of the land.

Deuteronomy 14:22 KJV

22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year

Deuteronomy 26:1-2 KJV

1 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; 2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

But when some Jews became poor tended to mortgage their land to the rich and I have heard that tithing such a land was not allowed according to Jewish tradition

Were tithes allowed to be paid in such environment?

Answer 1

Actually, there's a legal distinction between different types of tithes. This is discussed in the mishnah, Bikkurim 2:3.

Bikkurim (from Deuteronomy 26:1-2, which you quoted) are only brought from crops that you own, grown on land that you own. You don't bring them if you buy the rights to grow crops on somebody else's land.

The other kinds of tithes are all given from any crops, even if the owner of the crops doesn't also own the land. Even robbers are technically obligated to give them (they probably won't, unless they have a change of heart or weird selective morality, but if they sell the produce to someone else that person has to give the tithes).

As user6591 said in the comments, Leviticus 25:23-25 is discussing a sale of land, and someone who buys land in that way brings bikkurim as well.