What do we learn from "Nezem Zahav b'Af Chazir"?
Avos 6:2: Anyone who does not engage in Torah is called Nazuf 1 (cast off).
Rashi: The pig sullies the ring in the waste-heap. So is a Chacham who veered from the good path.
R. Yonah: Just like ornaments are secondary to bodies, so the body is secondary to the Nefesh of Chachmah. Just like a disgusting body (pig) is not beautified via ornaments, so one who lacks Sechel is not beautified via bodily beauty.
Malbim: Ornaments give grace and beautiful only to one who is intrinsically prepared to receive it. A ring does not beautify a pig's snout, since it is totally filthy with excrement; it only sullies the ring.
Rashi (6:2): He is like a pig; its owner does not guard it. It goes and nibbles in the waste-heap and makes [the ring] repulsive.
What is the comparison to "Ishah Yafah v'Saras Ta'am"?
Rashi: [This is a metaphor for] a Chacham who separated from Torah.
R. Yonah: Women are chosen for beauty. If she lacks reason, beautiful form and appearance do not beautify her, just like a gold ring does not beautify a pig. The secondary does not elevate the primary if the primary is lowly and inferior. "Ha'Masbi'a ba'Tov Edyech" (Tehilim 103:5) - the body is the ornament 1 of the Nefesh. It is secondary to the Nefesh, just like ornaments are secondary to the body. Also, the Nefesh acts via the limbs. Therefore, the body is called its ornaments.
Malbim: A woman without reason, beauty does not beautify her, for her interior is ugly 2 . "Ta'am" refers to natures of the Nefesh and Midos that are revealed externally, like "va'Yshano Es Ta'amo b'Eineihem", "u'Varuch Ta'amech u'Vruchah At" (Shmuel I, 21:14, 25:33). This usage is 'borrowed' from taste of food, which the palate senses, if it is bitter or sweet, good or bad. So people sense a person's nature, if he is good or bad, wise or foolish, based on impressions, Midos and his words.
R. Yonah: This is unlike those (Ibn Ezra and Radak there) who explain "Edyech" to be the mouth.
Malbim: Her beauty debases her more due to her evil nature. A Mashal - one with a nice form, and his Nefesh is prepared for ideas, and he learns and is an Ish Tevunah, but he has bad Midos and corrupt deeds, the Torah and sciences that he learned, they disgrace him, like a pig wearing a gold ring. One who learns [and his business is not with Emunah], and he does not speak nicely with people, they say 'woe to his Rebbi who taught to him Torah' (Yuma 86a).
