I’m not one to use the word lightly, but could it be that the world’s most adorable eligible Jewish bachelor is going to marry a…a…shiksa?

Zach Braff has presented his ladyfriend of 18 months, Mandy Moore, with a 4-carat diamong ring, but neither person’s publicist is confirming an actual shidduch (and I use that word loosely.) Wasn’t she, like, a Christian superstar before she crossed over into playing goody-goody roles? All I know is she annoyed the bajeezus outta me when she guest starred on “Entourage.”

Braff’s “Scrubs” co-star Donald Faison says the Jewish mothers of planet can rest easy; it’s just one of those horrible rumors people like to glom onto…but look, if Miss Priss makes Zachie happy, I can handle the pain. I’ll just be over here nursing a big cocktail, erasing him from my hard drive.

The sh-sh-shiksa guest stars tonight on “Scrubs”. Let’s hope ABC is a more flattering venue for her whiny weirdness than HBO.

Speaking of sitcoms, anyone else see the commericals for the new show “Sons & Daughters” (not to be confused with the Aussie soap opera) when the daughter asks her mom if they’re going to hell because they’re Jews? I thought the clip was hilarious, but I wouldn’t think the Superbowl demographic was their target audience…

I love movies, but I do not get up at the crack o’ crack to listen to Academy Award nominations and try and figure out who’s relevant to the tribe. No, I rely on real reporters to set their clocks, pierce their consciousness with their chosen stimulants, take in the information accurately and distill it down to a nice, Jewish package:

Judging from Tom Tugend’s jta report, is this could be a fairly Jewishy year for the Oscars:

“Munich,” Steven Spielberg’s controversial version of the Israeli hunt for the Palestinian murderers of Israel’s 1972 Olympic athletes, has been nominated five times — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Best Editing and Best Original Score.

Joaquin Phoenix, whose mother was born Orthodox (but converted to Hippie and named her children River, Leaf and Rain), garnered a Best Actor nomination for crooning just like Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line.”

Surely, no one’s surprised that Jake Gyllenhaal, also of Jewish matrilineal descent, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the cowboy-on-cowboy drama “Brokeback Mountain.”

Yenta favorite Rachel Weisz is in contention for Best Supporting Actress “The Constant Gardener,” for which she’s already won a Golden Globe.

The Best Original Screenplay category represents the full age spectrum of neurotic Jewish males with Woody Allen (“Match Point”) and Noah Baumbach for (“The Squid and the Whale.”) Dan Futterman (“Capote”) scored an Adapted Screenplay nomination.

Relevant in a “not so good for the Jews” kind of way is “Paradise Now,” the breakout success by director-writer Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men planning to blow up themselves and a bus, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Left out of Tugend’s report (but again, he did all the work, so I’m not faulting him at all) is Philip Seymour Hoffman, he of the Jewish name and WASPy skin and hair, nominated for Best Actor for his role in “Capote.”

Whether Jews sweep the Oscars or not, it’ll be a Jewish night no matter what with Jon Stewart hosting. Heck, it might even be worth watching — Sunday night, March 5.

Gorgeous Esti Mamo has more than enviable bone structure and amazing gams — she’s got a social conscience. And she’s gonna use it.

The 23-year-old Israeli is originally from Ethiopia and is using her fame and fortune to bring attention to the alienation many of her fellow Falash Mura feel upon immigrating to Israel.

From Loolwa Khazzoom’s article:

Israeli officials acknowledge that Ethiopian immigrants have not integrated as quickly as other communities, blaming it on the cultural gap that these newcomers, who often come from poor villages in Africa, face in dealing with established Israeli society. Poverty, drug abuse and violence have stalked the Ethiopian immigrant community — because the community feels degraded in Israel, Mamo says.

She is unarguably the first Ethiopian Israeli supermodel, and says she tries to educate everyone she meets about her culture and people. Not only that, she may be responsible for the recent increase of modeling work for Israeli women of color.

And unlike other models, she has a plan for after the photography shoots, runway shows and fabulous parties come to an end and the crow’s feet begin to show: “I’ll come back to Israel and run for Knesset.”

View Esti’s portfolio here, but no slobbering, hear? Esti’s a good girl.

First a baby on the way, now a coveted statuette: Rachel Weisz wins the Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Some say the award, for her role in The Constant Gardener, puts her on the fast track for an Oscar. Such nachas for this shayna maidela!

Gorgeous and sophisticated Jewish movie star Rachel Weisz and her soon-to-be-husband, director Darren Aronofsky will add a fine-looking member to the tribe sometime in June. Mazel tov!

You’ve already seen what she looks like hugely pregnant and naked if you caught The Constant Gardener last year, a heavy film about pharmaceutical company corruption in Africa. There’s a scene where her belly faces the camera, and this mama thought it looked pretty darn real.

Weisz told People.com that the tummy was “a prosthetic that was stuck on every morning. It was painted to look like my flesh,” but when ssked if the look helped her practice for the real thing, she replied, “I can’t talk about that.”

Which means photos of the real thing are unlikely. But you can always watch the DVD, if that’s your thing.

Backstage.com reports that Emily Stern, daughter of King of All Pottymouths Howard Stern, has quit her role in the Jewish Theater of New York’s production of Kabbalah because its final scene requires her to get nude. (That’s right, apparently Kabbalah isn’t just for the tabloids and bloggity fodder anymore — it’s the-a-ter, dahling. That doesn’t make it any less awful, according to the NY Times.)

It wasn’t that Ms. Stern was feeling prudish; she’s starred in the show since November as a Madonna-ish character (see the big ‘E’ for ‘Esther’?), with sworn secrecy from the director about her true identity. But fans of her father’s got wind that their idol’s little girl was getting naked nightly off-Broadway, putting up nasty comments on their blogs, and she became scared that these guys (because aren’t all of Howard Stern’s fans male?) would storm the show just to take exploitive photos of her.

Probably a good call, girl.

But walking out in the middle of a run will likely ruin her reputation as a “serious” actress. No matter — she appears to have many other talents.

Photo c/o Howardshrine.com, which may or may not be one of the sites that made Emily so nervous.

Ynet reported last week that 41-year-old Jewish millionaire Sharon Tendler married a 35-year-old dolphin named Cindy in a seaside (duh) ceremony in Eilat:

…The thrilled bride, wearing a white dress, walked down the dock before hundreds of astounded visitors and kneeled down before her groom, who was waiting in the water. Cindy, escorted by his fellow best-men dolphins, swam over to Tendler and she hugged him, whispered sweet nothings in his ear, and kissed him in front of the cheering crowd. After the ceremony was sealed with some mackerels, Tendler was tossed into the water by her friends so that she could swim with her new husband.

“I’m the happiest girl on earth,” the bride said as she chocked back tears of emotion. “I made a dream come true, and I am not a pervert,” she stressed.

Sure, it’s an unusual shidduch, but, heck — as long as they raise the children Jewish, right?

Photo: Joe Kot c/o Ynet.

Spazalicious Jew Jack Black is likely enjoying the massive success of King Kong, but apparently had a hard time keeping control of himself while filming:

“There was a lost weekend where I had a little time off and I did some Ecstasy and I went on a kind of crazy rampage and I started smoking (again),” he told GQ magazine this month.

The article reports that Black has since quit the smokes and is on a “strict diet,” which presumably does not include Ecstasy.

(As for the gorilla flick, also starring supersexy Adrian Brody in the leading man role: Haven’t seen it ’cause the local movie theater’s under water, but I heard it’s killer. Anyone care to write a mini-review in the comments section?)