Meet Leora Match

May 27, 2026 | Uncategorized

By Laura Wilson

My name is Leora Match, and I am a proud Baltimore transplant, nature-lover, musician, PJ Library parent, and Jewish professional. Becoming a mom has me reflecting deeply on community, ritual, and the traditions we choose to carry forward.

As the Director of Adamah Adventure Camp at Pearlstone, I love helping children connect with nature, become more confident and independent, build community, discover their passions, and deepen their Jewish identity. This year, it was also incredibly meaningful to partner with PJ Library and The Jewish Connection Network during Good Deeds Month for our Family Shabbat gathering at Kenilworth Mall — bringing families together through music, stories, crafts, and simple moments of connection rooted in Jewish values.

Now that I’m a parent myself, receiving PJ Library books each month feels especially meaningful. There is something magical about opening a new story with my son and knowing that families across Baltimore — and around the world — are sharing in those same Jewish bedtime moments, conversations, and rituals together.

But my favorite ritual each summer is our bedtime Laila Tov — the camp goodnight. We end with the Shema prayer, memories of the day replaying over the coals of a campfire.

When I was a kid, my Mom sang the Shema prayer to me and my siblings to tuck us in every night. When my twin sister and I were teens, often staying out until 2AM stargazing, jamming with friends, or going for night hikes in the Blue Mountains, Mom would make us wake her, regardless of the hour, to recount our adventures and, yes, recite the Shema. As the youngest of four, I watched my parents become empty nesters. Home on a college break, I was touched to learn that Mom still sang the Shema outside of our bedrooms after we moved out, as if the doorway was a portal that could carry the Hebrew words across space and time. 

This is the power of ritual. When I sing the Shema, I am singing to the current campers around the campfire, and all the former and future campers that compose our community. When I sing the Shema, I am now the mother singing to her child, and the child being sung to by her mother.

Also now, every night, my husband and I curl up with a PJ Library book and sing the Shema to our six-month-old son.

I am grateful for the Baltimore Jewish community, and for institutions like PJ Library and Adamah Adventure Camp that help stage the timeless rituals that bind us to the past, present, and future.