In the below excerpt, the Ari (Kabbalist Isaac Luria) describes the intermediary stages of the four stages of creation, and mentions how between the animal level and human level of evolution, there is the intermediary stage of monkeys. 

This raises the question, how could the Ari, the great Kabbalist who passed away in 1572 (three centuries before Charles Darwin, who is famous for discussing this phenomenon), state that monkeys were an intermediary phase of development between animals and humans, i.e. since Kabbalists only write about what they clearly attain & perceive?

The answer is in what is known as “Reshimot“(informational genes) in Kabbalah. Reshimot can be thought of similarly to frames and scenes in a long film reel (of our life) that unravel like a chain, from small to large, and which give rise to everything that exists.

Since Reshimot precede and give rise to our perception, we cannot see the Reshimot themselves. What we see is a resultant picture where species’ originate “one from another,” whereas in reality they originate “one after another.” This is what the Ari explains in the below except, i.e. the order of development of Reshimot.

The world was created by the desire to bestow (in other words, Nature or the Creator), and every creature was also created by this same desire to bestow. The only matter of creation is the desire to receive, which develops and expresses itself by creating an outward appearance (a bodily shell) according to its qualities. However, we do not perceive the forces of the desire (i.e. where the Reshimot reside) and only perceive the external wrapping. This is why we think that they come from one another.

Here is the excerpt by the Ari:

Indeed, in all these four inner Behinot there is one Behina that contains them all. It is a median between each two Behinot and consists of both. For example, biologists write that between the still and the vegetative there is the coral; between the vegetative and the animate there is Adnei ha Sadeh (Ledges of the field), mentioned in Masechet Kilaim. It is like a dog that grows on the ground with its navel rooted in the soil, from which it sucks its sustenance. When you cut off its navel, it dies. Between the animate and the speaking there is the monkey.

The above is an excerpt from Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) Part 3.  This text is part of the study material for lesson 10 in the Free Kabbalah Course – “Creation & Evolution Explained: From Before the Big Bang to the Future, Final State of Existence.” Sign Up for the Course Here »