"The soul rejoices with its companion"

Excerpt from Shabbos Secrets:

It is customary to sing zemiros during the Shabbos meals. The Baal Shem Tov explained it with a parable:

A royal prince was abducted and taken into captivity to a distant land, where he suffered greatly living among crude peasants. One day, a message from his father the king reached the prince in his place of confinement. He wanted to jump for joy, but he was afraid to show his hapiness to the coarse peasants around him. The prince came up with an idea. He treated everyone to wine and whiskey, and before long all the peasants were dancing, singing, and cavorting. This gave him the opportunity to dance for his own personal reason. The peasants danced for drunkenness, while he danced because of the message from his father.

On Shabbos the soul receives a message from Above - the neshoma yeseira. The soul wants to rejoice, but it is inhibited by the body which does not understand spiritual joy. Therefore the Torah decreed on Shabbos and Yom Tov the body should be treated to food and drink. The body can revel in physical pleasure, while the soul rejoices with its companion, the neshoma yeseira that came down from Heaven.

(Toldos Yaakov Yosef)