In the 1990s, Gottlieb played an important role in bringing to light Carlebach's long history of sexual assault and sexual violence, In 1997, she gave a lecture at Jewish Renewal community Congregation Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, California, where she described Carlebach's molestation of one of her congregants.
[8] From 2007-2009 she was Co-Director of the Middle East Program at the San Francisco office of the American Friends Service Committee.
"[2] She is a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council and Advisory Board and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
[2] Today she describes her denominational affiliation as "shomeret shalom," or practicing peace, a term she coined, and she has co-founded and led a number of efforts under this banner.
[5] She describes the Shomeret Shalom movement as "a sevenfold nonviolent pathway which incorporates noncooperation with systemic violence and war as matters of religious observance" and, as of 2025, runs a two-year course of study for Jewish communal leaders that culminates in ordination.