GEN1073 The Rambam wrote, “It is possible that a man will commit a severe transgression or a myriad of transgressions, until judgment demands, before the True Judge, that the punishment for the sins … will be that he be prevented from repentance.” We see from the Rambam that sometimes the severity of the sin is the cause for the sinner to be prevented from performing teshuvah, as the verse says, “One sin destroys an abundance of good” Koheles 9:18. On the other hand, sometimes the quantity of sin causes the prevention of teshuvah, for the sins multiply on themselves. The Talmud (Shabbos 10b) alludes to this: “Let man always dwell in a recently populate city, for since the city is new, the sins are few.” As the verse says, ‘Behold now, this city is near (kerovah) to flee to, and it is a little one’ [this verse]. What is meant by kerovah? Since it is recently populated its sins are few.” This teaches that quantities of sins, which are compounded, cause much culpability.  OHRYIS 541-2