These participants finished high school but were unable to complete their matriculation exams. The aim of the program is to raise their academic level through individual tutoring and at the same time help them to integrate into Israeli society. Each Ethiopian student has his own tutor, usually a fellow student who acts as a kind of mentor. When they begin their army service they serve together with the other Yeshiva students with whom they've been living and studying for one and a half years. There is nothing for youth to do in Yeruham except study and work.
Participants have little or no free time.
They're expected to complete their matriculation exams and study Torah and other religious studies. In addition all students at the Yeruham Yeshivat Hesder spend several hours a week in some educational project in the local community. The newcomers from Ethiopia have been tutoring and helping out in the Ethiopian community in Beersheba. Shmuelik Ben Shalom describes what makes the Yeruham yeshiva unique. In other yeshivas the whole point is to cut oneself off from the world in order to study Torah.