Imagine how difficult it would be to be suddenly swept into a modern culture. To leave everything you ever knew behind. To learn a new language, new customs, new rules. This is the reality of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel.

Some experts think that it may be years before their acculturation is complete, a process that affects the entire community ­ from the children who are often misdiagnosed as educationally handicapped to the elderly who see traditions like respect from their family dwindling.

Added to the difficulty of adapting, many Ethiopian parents have trouble learning Hebrew and cannot communicate outside their homes. And even with a shared language, there are problems. When referring to emotional pain, Western cultures speak of "heartbreak."

Ethiopians speak of "stomach ache." It's more than semantics. Israeli teachers, principals, guidance counselors and employers all have to be educated.

With half of all Ethiopians in Israel under the age of 18, education becomes especially meaningful for the community's long-term absorption. Practically everyone involved with the Ethiopian community believes that education is the key to meaningful long-term absorption.

Only 50 percent of Ethiopian three-year-olds attend pre-school, compared to 90 percent of other Israelis. Elementary-school children tend to fall behind in basic skills, like reading, writing and math. The result, some 1,000 Ethiopian students have dropped out, and many more are at a high risk to do the same.

No one in Israel fully recognized the depth of the problems until the families started to interact in Israeli society; until the children began to be compared to other school age children; until the parents themselves started to recognize their children¹s difficulties.

In response, the Coalition for Advancing Ethiopian Education, founded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in partnership with the Jewish Agency (JAFI) and some 40 other Israel-based organizations, has developed A Ten-City Plan for Integration in Israeli Society. This multi-year plan will address the needs of children from ages one to 18 in the 10 cities and caravan sites with the largest Ethiopian populations. In addition, JAFI supports a network of afternoon tutorial centers for some 2,500 Ethiopian children at risk and provides full-tuition scholarships to all Ethiopian students in an academic or vocational post-high school education program.