The difference between the single wicks of the Sabbath candles
and the braided torch of the Havdalah candle
is the distinction between a light of calmness, of repose, and of homeliness,
and the stronger light of the torch, which, on the one hand, accompanies the departing queen,
and on the other, lights the darkness that becomes more marked in her absence.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From "The Motif of Light in the Jewish Tradition," p.185, in On Being Free