About putting Rabomim on top of the list , the gemora in Nedorim says that the exile came שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה they did not make a brocho before learning. The Ran explains that the Torah had no chashivus in their eyes to make a blessing on it. The Chasam Sofer says there, baderech malitza, that when they praised someone they praised first his secular knowledge over his Torah knowledge. Borchu can also mean praising.
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