Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Reinitz was born on November 25, 1954 in Brooklyn to Rabbi Yosef Shlomo and Malka Faiga, Holocaust survivors who had immigrated to the United States. In 1962 the family, including seven children, made aliya and were among the pioneers who settled in Kiryat Sanz in Netanya, established by the Klausenberger Rebbe.
Shalom Mordechai studied at the Kiryat Sanz Yeshiva. His exceptional memory and grasp of the Torah allowed him to record the shiurim and drashot of the Rebbe. Following his marriage to Malka Chaya, the couple lived in Rehovot for two years before returning to Kiryat Sanz. There he served for 17 years as a teacher in the Sanz Yeshiva for Exceptional Students. In 1998 he became the Spiritual Head of the Sanz Darchei Avot Talmud Torah with its some 600 pupils. He and his wife had 12 children.
On August 19, 2003 he and his 9-year-old son Yissachar Dov were returning from the kotel on bus #2 when a suicide bombing killed them both. They were buried side-by-side in the Netanya Cemetery.
