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History
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 The Bet Shemesh Educational Center (BSEC) was established in 1986 to provide a residential school for students who could no longer remain at home. At the beginning, the junior and senior high boarding school for boys had only 16 students and the barest of essentials. Committed to helping improve the lives of these disadvantaged children BSEC quickly raised its academic standards and began providing holistic care to help provide every resident with a warm and encouraging environment. Today the Center can board over 300 children from some of the most destitute areas in Israel.
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Shortly after Operation Solomon brought 14,000 Jews from the Gondar region of Ethiopia to Israel, an additional 3,000 Jews from Kuwara arrived and were housed in the Jewish Agency's absorption center in Mevaseret Zion, outside of Jerusalem. The Ministries of Education and Absorption chose BSEC to be responsible for providing instruction for 28 boys from Kuwara, ranging in age from 14 -18. The boys arrived at Bet Shemesh in October 1999 to begin classes as day students, while continuing to reside with their families at the absorption center at Mevaseret Zion. In September 2000, 16 additional boys, newly arrived from Ethiopia, joined the program. Encouraged by the success of the integration program in its first two years, the Ministry of Education continued to enroll new-immigrant Ethiopian students into BSEC. The Immigrant Integration program is still a large component of the Center.
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Dr. David Portowicz and his small staff opened the Center's doors to give boys in danger of social and academic failure a new opportunity.
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