If an Israelite want to remain an eved evri in perpetuity until the Jubilee year, the master would nail his ear to his doorpost. The Gemara ends this sugiya on daf TB Kidushin 22b explains why the ear and why the doorpost.
“Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai would expound this verse as a type of decorative wreath [ḥomer], i.e., as an allegory: Why is the ear different from all the other limbs in the body, as the ear alone is pierced? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: This ear heard My voice on Mount Sinai when I said: “For to Me the children of Israel are slaves” (Leviticus 25:55), which indicates: And they should not be slaves to slaves. And yet this man went and willingly acquired a master for himself. Therefore, let this ear be pierced.
“And Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi would likewise expound this verse as a type of decorative wreath: Why are the door and a doorpost different from all other objects in the house, that the piercing is performed with them? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The door and the doorpost were witnesses in Egypt when I passed over the lintel and when I passed over the two doorposts of houses in which there were Jews (Exodus, chapter 12), and I said: “For to Me the children of Israel are slaves,” and they should not be slaves to slaves. And I delivered them at that time from slavery to freedom, and yet this man went and acquired a master for himself. Therefore, let him be pierced before them, as they are witnesses that he violated God’s will.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Tosefot מָה נִשְׁתַּנָּה אֹזֶן ד"ה provides a third explanation. In gematria מַרְצֵ֔עַ , awl, equals 400 and according to one tradition the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites for 400 years. God is exasperated that He freed them from slavery only for the Jew to choose to remain an eved evri in perpetuity to another human being.
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