Ahavat Itamar
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Hebrew: אהבת איתמר (Itamar's Love). Circle dance by Sefi Aviv, 1991.
The Itamar of the title is Itamar Ben-Avi, son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the creator of the modern Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda wanted his son to be called Eber, the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Abraham and the eponym of the word "Hebrew", but the mohel refused as the name wasn't used in their community. So Ben-Yehuda suggested "Itamar", the name that his wife Deborah preferred, but the mohel still wouldn't consent. Finally they used "Ben Tzion". But when Itamar grew up he changed his name to the one chosen by his mother. He also changed his last name to "Ben-Avi", since "Avi" means "my father" and is simultaneously an acronym for "Eliezer Ben-Yehuda".
When Itamar was 23 he met and fell in love with Leah Abushedid, who was 16 at the time. Her mother would not consent to their union; she came from a high-status Sephardic family, and Itamar was poor and Ashkenazi. Itamar responded by writing letters and poems to Leah, all of which were published in a newspaper, Do'ar HaYom. (This was easily arranged by Itamar, who was the editor of the newspaper!) As the couple became desperate, his writings began hinting of suicide, and Leah threatened that she would never marry anyone else (thus denying grandchildren to her mother). Eventually the families were brought to see reason and the wedding took place.
The song lyrics are not from a poem written by Itamar; they were written much later by Dudu Barak at the suggestion of Itamar's daughter Drora. It was set to music by Nurit Hirsh and first performed by Miri Aloni. The full name of the song is "Ahavat Itamar Ben Avi".
The dance was dedicated by Sefi to Menachem Menachem, who had recently passed away. Moshiko's dance Yakir Menachem was dedicated to the same choreographer.
External Links
The song performed by Miri Aloni
Itamar Ben Avi at Wikipedia (English)
HaZvi (The Gazelle), Itamar's newspaper at the time of his "courtship", at Wikipedia (Hebrew)
The lyrics to Ahavat Itamar Ben Avi, with translation and transliteration
Ofer Gavish's blog post on the song with more stories (Hebrew)