People in the Gemara times and the times of the Shulchan Aruch wouldn’t have disliked Torah also if they were denied food?

Throughout Jewish history and until relatively recently, almost all Jews (as most people in general), were religious. Accordingly, the approach towards the rare brazen people who "left the camp", was one of excommunication, expelling & punishment, as is sometimes still done in a few haredi circles, with the idea of deterring those few individuals who were thinking of "leaving". On the other hand, the mainstream opinion is that today's non-religious are totally different, and accordingly, the approach towards them must be changed to one of patience and love. As we approach ge'ula (redemption), God apparently prefers that we serve Him out of identification and love- and so we should also treat each other/our students/our children, and not out of fear or punishment. Please review my previous and more detailed answers on the topic: a href="https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/58904" target="_new" >Fighting with Non-religious Jews in the IDF