The Volkswagen emissions scandal, known as Dieselgate, came to light in 2015 when regulators discovered that millions of Volkswagen diesel vehicles contained software designed to cheat emissions tests. In controlled conditions, the vehicles activated emissions-reduction systems and appeared compliant with strict environmental regulations. Yet under normal driving conditions, the software switched those systems off, resulting in pollution levels many times higher than legal limits. What initially seemed like a technical anomaly quickly revealed itself as a coordinated system engineered to deceive both regulators and consumers.
The impact was enormous. Nearly eleven million vehicles were recalled worldwide, Volkswagen paid billions in fines and settlements, and several executives resigned or faced criminal prosecution. The scandal deeply damaged trust in the company and cast doubt on the integrity of emissions reporting across the automotive industry. It also led to regulatory reform and accelerated investment in electric vehicle development as automakers sought cleaner, more credible alternatives. Ultimately, the evidence made clear that Dieselgate was not an accident or miscalculation, but a deliberate and fully conscious effort to deceive the public and manipulate the regulatory system.
In this week’s Torah reading of Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40), we have three cases of deliberate and fully conscious efforts to deceive and manipulate others.
The first story starts with Jacob and his clear favoritism for his son Joseph, visibly demonstrated with a gift of a special garment. The situation worsens when Joseph has dreams that indicate he will rule his brothers, which aggravates their hatred of him. Jacob sends Joseph to check on the brothers and the flocks. When the brothers see Joseph from a distance, they conspire to kill him. Brother Ruben suggests they throw him into a pit and not kill him. They do that. Brother Judah suggests they sell him into slavery and make some money. Joseph is sold and is taken to Egypt.
The brothers who had taken Joseph’s special garment, kill a sheep, bloody the garment with it and send it to their father. Jacob understands that Joseph is dead and mourns inconsolably. First deception.
Second deception: Judah separates from his brothers, marries, has three boys and finds a bride, Tamar, for his firstborn, Er, who dies shortly after his marriage. The Torah just says that he was wicked. Judah commands his second son, Onan, to marry his deceased brother’s wife (a law known as levirate marriage, to continue the name of the deceased), but Onan also dies. The Torah gives more detail as to his sin. Judah doesn’t let his third son, Shelah, marry Tamar. Instead, he sends Tamar home, telling her to wait until Shelah is older. She is forbidden to marry anyone else.
In the meantime, Judah’s wife dies, and Shelah has gotten older, but Tamar is not called to marry him. Tamar gets wind that Judah is coming to her neck of the woods. She disguises herself as a prostitute, waits for him at the crossroad, Judah makes use of her services and leaves his staff, seal and cord as a deposit until he can send a sheep as payment. Judah sends the sheep, but the prostitute is nowhere to be found and the locals explain that there is no prostitute that frequents that crossroad. Three months later, Tamar is found to be pregnant and Judah decrees that she must be killed for having violated the prohibition of being with another man. She sends Judah’s personal items and states that the owner of those items was the man.
Judah admits that it was him and that Tamar had rightfully tricked him because he had prevented Shelah from marrying her. Tamar gives birth to twins Peretz and Zerach, whose descendants will play crucial roles throughout Jewish history, most notably, King David.
The narrative goes back to Joseph. He’s sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s ministers. Joseph is so successful that he is elevated to oversee Potiphar’s entire household. However, Joseph’s extreme good looks get the unwanted attention of Potiphar’s wife who tries to seduce him. Joseph resists her advances, until one day, she catches him alone at home. He flees the house, but somehow managed to hold on to his garment. This leads to the third and final deception this week.
Potiphar’s wife claims that it was Joseph who assaulted her and she uses his garment as proof. Joseph is thrown into prison. However, somehow, he is also widely successful in the prison environment, and the warden elevates him within that system. It is there that he meets Pharaoh’s butler and baker, who’ve also been imprisoned. They are troubled by dreams. He interprets them correctly. He successfully predicts that in three days, the butler will be released and returned to his position and the baker will be hung. That’s exactly what happens. However, the butler forgets all about Joseph and doesn’t intercede in getting him out of prison, as Joseph had requested.
Joseph will get out next week (two years later for him) in one of the most iconic turnarounds in history.
