[Avodah] Berachos 32 - tefilla greater than ma'asim tovim

[Sholom Simon]

Questions from (another) guy in my shul:

On Berachos 32b, R Elazar says that tefilla is greater than ma'asim tovim,
and a ta'anis is greater than tzedaka.  The Pnei Yehoshua wonders: where's
talmud torah in all of this?  Isn't talmud torah k'neged kulo?  He answers
that tefilla is greater, specifically, where there is a gezeira that one is
trying to annul or alleviate.  (And either the P"Y, or R Rosner, suggest
that perhaps this is why when a crisis is facing the community, we engage
in tefilla and/or recitation of tehillim).

(FWIW, Tosafos there explains the first statement as ma'asim tovim with
tefilla is greater than ma'asim tovim without tefilla.  But what's the
chiddush in that?  Do I need R Eazar to tell me that?  Or, perhaps R Elazar
is saying: you can do all the ma'asim tovim you want, but without tefilla,
it's not going to help?  But I digress....)

That got my friend wondering about the order of words at the end of Unesana
Tokef teshuva tefilla tzedaka ma'avirin es ro'ah ha-g'zeira.

Is there any intersection of thought -- is there any influence or stira --
of R Elazar's statements to this order of words?  And why does R Elazar
seemingly ignore teshuva?
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